Colonia Storm Tour

This time, Lin Haiyuan also placed the same teacup that he usually keeps on the table, which is the same one that Haha uses, out of the frame. Then he put on his peaked cap with the Colonia flank insignia on it. Normally, he doesn't wear a commander's peaked cap in the command room.

After a few seconds, the holographic projection in front of him, which was still filled with snowflakes, began to transmit normal video images. Elliott Baldwin Woodman was sitting in the captain's seat, while his secretary, Karen Mira Messeres, stood to his side and behind him.

"Hello, General Lin Haiyuan."

Elliott greeted him with a calm and gentle laugh—as for why he didn't call him Commander Lin Haiyuan, it was because Elliott understood that this was the respectful title lower-ranking soldiers used for the highest-ranking leader in their unit, rather than a title for a specific rank or position.

"Hello, Mr. Woodman."

This time, Lin Haiyuan did not show a friendly smile; instead, he had an unusually serious expression.

Elliott Baldwin Woodman saw that Lin Haiyuan's signature amiable smile was not on his face on the big screen, and other thoughts began to form in his mind.

General Lin Haiyuan's expression was so serious; it seemed they already had an answer in their hearts regarding the unusual behavior of their Chinese compatriots in the United States, or perhaps it was because of the more inside information I had given about the Eurasian air disaster.

“Mr. Woodman, let’s end this charade.”

Lin Haiyuan looked at Elliott's poor blue eyes and said bluntly, "Based on our investigation into the abnormal behavior of our Chinese compatriots in the United States, as well as the corroborating testimony of two survivors who escaped from San Francisco, the epicenter of the incident, although it is hard to believe, the facts are right in front of me and I have to believe that the United States has actually deployed a large number of evil devices to manipulate people's minds."

As Lin Haiyuan spoke, Walker.com AI, which was already prepared, displayed the results of the energy detection and analysis satellite next to him—a satellite image showing the entire United States covered in deep purple energy.

Upon seeing the holographic projection, the crew of Ulmus were all surprised. Before this, they thought that only Ratatosk and DEM had the ability to play with holographic projection. They did not expect that Foehn could also play with holographic projection.

Elliott and Karen watched the holographic projection with calm indifference, after all, they both believed that Fenfeng was fully capable of using holographic projection technology.

Considering Elliott's poor eyesight, Karen gestured to the crew to zoom in on the satellite image projected by Lin Haiyuan, and they saw the deep purple energy covering American territory.

"This is the abnormal energy fluctuation we detected in the direction of the United States. Judging from the waveform of the energy fluctuation, this energy is used to control people's minds, right?"

As Lin Haiyuan spoke, he also brought up images of the Lord of Memory display device and the Tower of Babel display device taken by the GLONASS satellite system.

"We have preliminarily determined that this building, which looks exactly like the Seattle Space Needle and the Tower of Babel in mythological paintings, is the device that emits that energy. Since the Ratatosk side claims to be able to provide answers to the abnormal behavior of our compatriots in the United States, what other intelligence can you provide based on the information we already have?"

After Lin Haiyuan finished speaking, he placed his hands on the table, adopting the posture of Commander Ikari, and looked at Elliott.

In fact, Lin Haiyuan already knew the full names of the two devices, but revealing them would definitely expose that Fenfeng had stolen the display device and CR-UNIT data from the DEM Integrated Research Base, so Lin Haiyuan pretended not to know.

The investigative capabilities of this Foehn wind are not to be underestimated; they have already discovered so much in such a short time.

After a moment of reflection, Elliott said, "General Lin Haiyuan, I admire your investigative abilities, but you only understand half of these two devices. Karen, I'll leave the explanation to you."

"Yes."

After Karen responded, the camera turned to face her and zoomed in.

"General Lin Haiyuan, this... the device you described that resembles the Seattle Space Needle is actually called the Regional Memory Directional Erasure Insertion and Display Device. Its purpose is already evident from its name, so I won't go into too much detail here. This display device achieves memory manipulation by spreading magic that generates memory manipulation effects around it. So, as you said, General, it's a machine that manipulates memories to play with people's hearts."

Karen then spoke about the second Tower of Babel device, "The full name of this super-large manifestation device is the Regional Memory Directional Erasure Insertion Amplification Manifestation Device. It is used to amplify the memory manipulation magic generated by the Regional Memory Directional Erasure Insertion Manifestation Device, thereby achieving the effect of controlling the entire United States and even North America."

After Karen finished speaking in one breath, she paused for a second and continued, "In the future-level intelligence memory control and management plan of the cooperation between the Americans and DEM Corporation, the former was named Memory-Dealer and the latter was named Migdal-Bavel. Originally, the Americans wanted to use these two devices to control the memories of all the citizens in the country to achieve a more perfect national control effect. However, in the end, the Americans played with fire and got burned, and were instead controlled by the development company DEM."

"Memory-Dealer, Migdal-Ba/vel..."

As Lin Haiyuan read these English words, he realized that they were exactly the same as the names of the two campaigns in Epsilon ACT2 from his memory. What was even more coincidental was that the Memory Master Manifestation Device and the Tower of Babel Manifestation Device were installed in the positions of the corresponding Mind Beacon and Mind Control Amplifier.

Is this a coincidence...? This is practically identical to what the Soviet army did when it invaded the United States and what the Epsilon army later rose to power did... No, it's practically identical except for the lack of any military action and the somewhat peculiar way they manipulate people's hearts. How did this DEM company become just like Epsilon? This is terrifying.

"What's even more terrifying is that, in order to give these two manifestation devices the functions, DEM designed a system and two devices. The first is the LifeTree system, which is a power supply system specifically designed to provide the two manifestation devices with the energy to generate magic. The second is the Betelgeuse and Rigel devices. These two devices use a very cruel and inhumane method to generate energy, which is to extract people's life force and the biomass energy produced by the human body and then let the Tree of Life system decide where it flows. Usually, it flows into the manifestation devices, according to our understanding."

Karen shook her head inwardly at the thought of what she was about to say: "The Betelgeuse device requires the energy generated by 1000 people to initially start and calibrate the Memory Master device. After that, it consumes 100 people per month to maintain the operation of other facilities, including the underground control center. If an emergency calibration is needed, an additional 500 people will be required. The similar device Betelgeuse consumes more than twice the number of lives compared to Betelgeuse in various aspects. Currently, the people serving as fuel for Betelgeuse and Betelgeuse are criminals. Furthermore, the US power grid has already begun to connect the Memory Master Manifestation Device and the Tower of Babel Manifestation Device to reduce the consumption of lives."

Holy crap... This isn't a DEM anymore, it's practically Epsilon masquerading as a DEM! The way it generates electricity is exactly like a biochemical reactor! Are you sure it's not some bald guy working in your display device development department or in the company's upper echelons? But it's best if the bald guy isn't around, because things get even more complicated if he is.

Lin Haiyuan maintained a serious expression on the surface, not showing his inner shock on his face.

"The efficiency with which British capitalists devoured workers' lives during the Industrial Age already surprised me enough, but I never imagined that these descendants of John Bull capitalists would use such high efficiency in devouring human lives to power their evil inventions. I must say, the British really know how to play games. While manipulating machinery, they also easily began to play with human lives, treating people as a cheap and reliable source of biological power generation. This is truly a breathtakingly ingenious idea. Do they want to lead the entire country into a fourth energy revolution that is different from nuclear reactors? I admire them, they are amazing."

After Lin Haiyuan finished speaking, he clapped his hands loudly.

Everyone could hear the sarcasm in Lin Hai's words in "Ulmus." Some of the British crew members already had expressions of disbelief, while Elliott and Karen's expressions became slightly awkward; both of them were British.

“General Lin Haiyuan, although we are also British, it does not mean that all British people agree with this. The entire Ratatosk region does not agree with this. For us, DEM Company is already a common and intolerable enemy.”

Elliott felt deep regret over his old friend's outrageous behavior; they had crossed the line, and no one could save or forgive them now.

"Now that we've come this far with the manipulative manipulation device, let's talk about something more important: why do you dare to say you can tell me the inside story of the Eurasian space catastrophe?"

Lin Haiyuan laid his hands flat on the desk and looked at Elliott Baldwin Woodman in the holographic projection with an even sharper gaze than before—the camera had been reset.

"General Lin Haiyuan, I understand your feelings as the sole survivor of the Eurasian air disaster. However, these are not things that can be said over the phone. If you want to know the answers, please arrange a meeting with us for a formal discussion. You should have learned this from the message relayed by your commandos last time."

Elliott did not want to discuss details here that should not be known to more people.

"You don't understand anything," Lin Haiyuan thought to himself. "Give me a reason to choose a meeting place within 4V for a formal meeting."

"The Japanese government is trying its best to downplay the Kagoshima incident. We at Ratatosk know all the details. In the entire world, only your Foehn Wind army is capable of using deadly lightning as a weapon. The first time was inside Kagoshima International University, where you used a tank that fired lightning to easily kill many blockade personnel and several AST members. The second time was with a single-soldier level lightning weapon. I personally saw your commando, who was completely encased in metal armor, not only talking to the magician who was relaying messages to our side, but also saw his weapon easily break through the random field, turning the DEM magician protected by the random field into ashes, as well as those Singaporean rebel soldiers and DEM mercenaries. The mysterious force of tanks and trucks that took away the Kagoshima exchange student who was suspected to be an elf and his companions was your Foehn Wind commando team, wasn't it?"

Eliot's words have solved most of the mysteries surrounding the Kagoshima Incident.

"What if I said yes?"

Lin Haiyuan did not continue to cover up Fenfeng's actions in Kagoshima, because it was pointless to do so. The other party knew the attack effects of the Tesla weapons that appeared in Kagoshima, and it would be unreasonable to say that it was not DEM or that it was DEM's doing. It was better to openly admit that he did it.

"If it really was General Lin Haiyuan who brought the suspected elf targets and their companions back to the 4V controlled by the Foehn Wind, then I think we have much more to discuss. We, Ratatosk, are an organization with the opposite ideology to DEM. They advocate the extermination of the elves, or even attempt to obtain their power, while we, Ratatosk, are an organization formed to communicate with the elves and seek to resolve the disasters caused by the spacequakes through peaceful means. Surely you don't want the tragedy of the Eurasian space catastrophe to repeat itself, do you?"

Elliot has now confirmed that Lin Haiyuan has indeed brought back the suspected elf target and the exchange student back to 4V.

“Indeed, we don’t want the great calamity of the Eurasian space catastrophe to befall us again. If it happens again, China will disappear from the earth forever. So, the Chinese student I brought back, Rowan, who is confirmed to be an elf, has been living a peaceful life, educating the underage children in the orphanage. I have been paying attention to guiding and helping her to maintain a good and healthy mindset to avoid triggering spacequakes. Even when she sometimes turns into an elf, she will not trigger spacequakes and can still communicate with people normally and control her power.”

This time, Lin Haiyuan spoke in a formal, confirming tone about what happened after Luo Wen came to 4V.

After hearing everything Lin Haiyuan said, the crew of Ulmus were shocked. Elliot and Karen, among others, never expected that someone outside their organization could treat elves so kindly and successfully calm them down so that they could communicate with humans. There had only been one successful case before!

Upon hearing this, Elliott was so excited that he wanted to stand up from the captain's seat and applaud, but he refrained for some reasons, though he still clapped his hands.

"General Lin Haiyuan, please accept our applause to express our appreciation for your wise decision!"

After Elliott finished speaking, a burst of enthusiastic applause from everyone in Ulmus filled the command room of the Foehn Construction Site.

After silently accepting the applause, Lin Haiyuan said, "I appreciate your applause and gratitude, but it's not enough to move me."

“I know, General Lin Haiyuan. Given that both of us are organizations that treat elves in a friendly manner, we are willing to provide the Foehn forces with manifestation devices and new CR-UNITs, and truly unite with them.”

Elliott's initial joy had vanished, replaced by an unusual solemnity. "DEM has taken control of the world's most powerful superpower and intends to deal with Foehn and Ratatosk. General Lin Haiyuan, you can't possibly not know what DEM's control of the United States is to solve..."

"……………………"

Lin Haiyuan knew what DEM Company's control of the United States meant for Fenfeng. Even if DEM Company had no intention of dealing with Fenfeng, Fenfeng would still have to take action.

It's all because of the Memory Lord Manifestation Device and the Tower of Babel Manifestation Device. To the Fenfeng, these things are no different from Mind Beacon and Mind Control Amplifier. They must be destroyed as soon as they appear. We will never allow a second nemesis, Epsilon, to appear in this world. Moreover, by controlling the Chinese people's behavior against the Fenfeng, it also shows that this is a hostile signal from DEM towards the Fenfeng.

Looking at Lin Haiyuan's silent and serious expression, Elliott knew that this was not enough to sway Fenfeng, who was fully capable of going it alone, so he decided to drop another bombshell.

"DEM Company personnel have appeared in the Kashi region of Tibet. According to our informants within DEM Company, they are plotting something very dangerous in Tibet, General."

Elliott did not elaborate on what the Tibet DEM was specifically planning to do, but he believed Lin Haiyuan knew this and would only reveal it during formal talks between the two sides.

"...Two days later, Mr. Elliott Baldwin Woodman and your secretary, accompanied by a few necessary bodyguards, are to meet at 4V Keelung. No medium or heavy military equipment is permitted."

Lin Haiyuan finished saying what he wanted to say in that way.

"Okay, Mr. Lin Haiyuan, I will come in a specially designed aircraft. I will inform you when I arrive to avoid unnecessary accidental firing."

Elliott readily agreed.

"Well."

After Lin Haiyuan finished speaking, he turned his chair around and turned his back. Then, the video image of Lin Haiyuan on the Ulmus screen turned into static.

Wow, that's a 10,000-word chapter, but the dialogue isn't even all finished yet. *shrug*

We're not going to get into battle yet; the basic dialogue isn't even finished.

Chapter Forty-Seven Peace Treaty

Date: February 13, 2014

Two days after their last video call, Elliott Baldwin Woodman and his secretary Karen Mira Messer arrived as scheduled.

Just as he said, they would greet you when they arrived in a special flying vehicle.

However, since there were no air traffic controllers or anything like that around here, Elliott had no choice but to initiate another video call with Lin Haiyuan to communicate with him.

"General Lin Haiyuan, we have arrived. Please do not fire your weapons when we arrive."

Elliott remained seated in the captain's chair, as did her secretary, Karen.

At this point, the Ulmus, which looks exactly like the Fraxinus, still retains its invisibility due to the (Invisible) camouflage effect.

"Your optical camouflage still needs improvement, Mr. Woodman. My anti-aircraft weapons locked onto your warship the moment you entered range, but I simply deactivated the lock. Your aircraft are quite unique, Mr. Woodman, with so many branches at the tail."

Lin Haiyuan directly exposed the truth: the acoustic detectors he had deployed nearby had already noticed the unusual airflow disturbances and discovered the invisible *Fraxinus*.

"Huh?!"

The other crew members exclaimed in surprise. They never expected that the Ulmus, which was in stealth mode, would be discovered so early, and that the enemy's anti-aircraft weapons would lock onto it immediately!

Elliott paused for a moment, then smiled and apologized to him, "It seems we were too arrogant, General. I thought we might have frightened you. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Your warship has a very unique design, which gives me enough time to take a look. Now, Mr. Woodman, how do you plan to get off?"

Lin Haiyuan certainly knew how Elliot and Karen boarded and disembarked, but he said it that way on purpose.

"General, how about we play a magic trick here? You specify where we'll appear in the port, and we'll appear there in a moment."

Elliott maintained the kind and benevolent smile typical of elderly people.

“Interesting. I’ll bring people to meet you at Terminal 1.”

Lin Haiyuan did not show any surprise or confusion on his face. Instead, he calmly replied with a single sentence and ended the video call.

"General Lin Haiyuan didn't show the slightest surprise from beginning to end... as if he knew everything."

Karen expressed her thoughts directly after the video call ended.

“General Lin Haiyuan is not just a soldier; he is also the head of a groundbreaking top-secret project. It’s only natural that he’s not amazed by our technology. The project he’s in charge of has brought more of humanity’s fantasies to practical use, and it doesn’t rely on any display devices. Karen, now take me to the teleportation device.”

Elliott was not surprised by Lin Haiyuan's unremarkable attitude.

"understood."

Karen pushed Elliott's wheelchair from behind, helped him sit in it, and then handed over the ship's affairs to the acting captain who had been appointed before heading towards the teleportation device.

Meanwhile, Lin Haiyuan, who was at the construction site, took the Jackal motor vehicle directly to the No. 1 passenger terminal he had just designated, while two terrifying drones escorted him to the designated location.

After arriving at Terminal 1, Lin Haiyuan got out of the car and steadied his peaked cap. The terrifying drone landed at his feet, and the next second, Karen and Elliott appeared directly in front of him.