Rhodes Island does not exist.

"If you don't believe me, listen. Doesn't it suddenly become silent outside?" She chuckled softly, letting her voice fade away, leaving only the vibration of air in the receiver.

The previous noise had inexplicably vanished without a trace, leaving only a deathly silence.

This is not right.

The gears should have been turning, the plan should have been implemented, and the Rhodes Island special operations team should have captured all the refugees and rescued Provence before the power outage ended.

But now, why... is there no sound at all?

-

Rhode Island, 16th floor, observation tower connecting area.

"You guys are really bold to use my own methods against me?!"

W's voice was almost hysterical, and her amber eyes turned crimson.

In the rather narrow corridor, two groups of people faced off.

The refugees on the left are barely clinging to life, their strength waning. The Rhodes Island forces on the right are fully armed and battle-hardened; they could crush all the refugees to dust and scatter their bones to ashes with just one more step forward.

But they can't.

"Do you think we didn't consider the possibility of a power outage?" The lead refugee shook the remote control in his hand, blood from his forehead flowing down his sharply defined cheeks.

“Ms. W, you’re an expert in this area, so you must recognize this remote control I’m holding.” He gave a weak smile and turned his gaze to the Sarkaz women in the crowd. “So I hope you won’t act rashly.”

"w?" Yato glanced at her sideways, trying to get an answer from her.

"Release-activated remote control... does not detonate the bomb by pressing a button, but rather by pressing a finger to send a signal, putting the bomb into a warning state. Once the signal is interrupted, the warning state ends, and the bomb will detonate directly."

"In other words, this is not a bomb that explodes when pressed, but a bomb that explodes when released."

w's voice sounded incredibly deep.

This also shows that she was really angry.

And she was laughing.

Whenever she smiles, it's never a good sign.

“I know you have several snipers aiming at my hand right now… but don’t do something pointless.” His voice trembled. “It’s better to win than lose… isn’t it?”

He is afraid.

After all, he had never received any military training.

Forget military training, he had never even been in a fight in his entire life.

He's just a businessman.

In fact, this applies to all the refugees gathered here.

Drifting with the tide and living a mediocre life are the epitome of their lives.

Before the Integration Movement arrived, they drifted along with the tide, persecuting the infected as they went.

When the Reunion Movement invaded with natural disasters and absorbed the infected into their ranks to seek revenge against their former persecutors, the infected were swept away and killed, or fled with the tide of death.

As Rhodes Island's aid arrived, they once again followed the tide and climbed the tower of relief, accepting the favors of others.

And now, they still rebel along with the tide.

As long as someone with influence appears, they will abandon their independent thinking and blindly follow them, completely disregarding their own fate.

Just like now.

Apart from the businessman holding the remote control, all the other refugees huddled behind him, completely oblivious to the fact that their former companions were scattered like garbage in various corners of the sixteenth floor.

Or perhaps they simply lack any sense of companionship.

"I'll say it again, just like I said at the beginning." The businessman raised the remote control in his hand, his shifty eyes now filled with intense purpose. "If you meet our three conditions, we'll release the woman in the observation tower."

"At this point, are we still going to negotiate?" W's lips curled into a crazy grin. "That's a remote control with a release mechanism. Once it's pressed, it's a matter of life or death. Or are you planning to give us time to go into the observation tower's passageway and defuse the bomb?"

"I'm telling you now, stop spouting your useless nonsense, you must die today—"

"W, don't talk."

A female voice sounded.

A cold, mature female voice interrupted W's rant, like a prohibition.

In an instant, the crowd behind her parted to make way for her as if the sea were opening up. The woman with pale hair walked slowly and quietly, her eyes filled with a deep light.

"I agree to your request."

Chapter 183, Chapter 182: The Sun Named Stars

Rhode Island, eighth floor communal ward.

"...So you knew all along?"

After a moment of silence, the doctor's voice came through.

On the other side, there was only silence.

Why didn't you tell us beforehand?

That wasn't a accusatory tone.

It was just a normal conversation.

“It’s not that easy, Doctor,” Provence finally spoke. “It’s not that easy.”

"Why? If you had revealed earlier that a bomb had been planted at the connection point of the observation tower, I could have—"

“What do you mean?” Provence laughed. “Doctor, this isn’t decisive intelligence, because no one can defuse these bombs before they break in, so their presence or absence makes no difference.”

“You already know what the truly decisive intelligence is.” She spoke at a measured pace.

The Provence of today is no longer the optimistic, big-tailed Rupert that the Doctor usually saw.

Ever since the pressure from the entire Rhodes Island fell on her shoulders, she has never been able to return to how she was before.

"Doctor, have you taken a count of the number of people currently on Rhodes Island, and the total amount of resources we still have?" Provence asked before the Doctor could speak.

Her questions always hit Rhodes Island where it hurts.

“I have done the statistics.” But the doctor would not evade the question; he would only answer honestly, “The result is that it is simply not enough to sustain our consumption, because in fact all our public reserves have been exhausted.”

“That’s why everyone is so desperately seeking this resource within the observation tower,” Provence said. “But… how much of that resource is actually left?”

"It can sustain the natural disaster messengers inside the observation tower for a month." The doctor read the words that appeared in his mind as if reciting a textbook.

That was the standard set when the observation tower was built.

“Enough to feed one person for a month,” Provence sighed. “That means if there were thirty people, they would be eaten up in just one day.”

"You want to say..."

“It’s meaningless.” Provence’s tone slowly rose, as if she had returned to her former self. “Doctor, you are the most trusted person on Rhodes Island.”

"..." The doctor listened in silence.

“When a crisis comes, what we should do is not to distribute resources evenly to allow more people to survive, but to concentrate resources to allow a smaller but more valuable group of people to live longer.” Her voice began to tremble.

"Stop, Provence, stop! How could you say such a thing? This doesn't sound like something you would say, this isn't what you think—"

"Doctor, Doctor." Provence's voice stood between the radio waves and the person, cutting off the doctor's words.

Then, a harsh silence fell between the two.

All that could be heard from the other end was Provence's rapid breathing.

She is trying to regulate her emotions.

“Doctor,” she said after a moment.

"I hope you can live."

These were words she had said not long ago, and now, after fully gathering her emotions, she said them again.

“I truly hope… that you can survive.” Her tone gradually changed. “Besides, it’s not just me; many of Rhodes Island’s operators understand that you have been working hard for everyone’s happiness, yet you have been blind to the happiness that you should have pursued and received.”

"But we all really hope that you can find happiness."

“So, you didn’t deserve this ending.” Her trembling voice stopped. “It’s not fair.”

"With no other organization like Rhodes Island to be found in the entire Terra, the first Rhodes Island is about to be destroyed... I don't want to see this happen, nor do I want to see the person who founded Rhodes Island meet such a tragic end."

“Of course I know, I know I’m not qualified to say these things to you like teachings or advice, and neither are many of Rhodes Island’s operators.” She suddenly laughed. “After all, you’ve lived for far too long… Although the operators all keep this secret to themselves, everyone knows that you are also an immortal being.”

"That's not important..."

The doctor shook his head with a wry smile.

"But I hope you can live on, live to the end, or rather..."

The sounds of Provence began to rise and fall.

It was as if she was doing something on the other end of the communicator.

"Even if you are alone, please continue to live with the ideals of Rhodes Island."

Provence?

The doctor noticed something was wrong.

-

Rhode Island, 16th floor, at the connection point of the observation tower.

“Don’t try anything dangerous, I’m watching you.” W pointed the high-energy stone launcher in his hand at the refugee businessman holding the remote control.

"Don't worry, we have no other trump cards left now, haha..." The businessman's smile was almost distorted, and it was hard to tell that he was smiling. "Because of the power outage, the connection splitter of the observation tower is also unusable. I have no other reliance besides this bomb, so whether you take action or not, the final result will be the same."

“After the high-energy mineral explosives explode, the sixteenth floor connected to it will also be affected, and we will all be swept into the sandstorm of Originium dust,” Kal'tsit said in a deep voice. “I am aware of all the consequences, and that is the sincerity with which I have come to negotiate with you.”

"Is that so?" The merchant chuckled sarcastically. "These conditions are outrageous beyond belief. You agreed to all these demands just to save one operator's life, to have one more mouth to feed? What are you after?"

"Ah... I see. Because our third condition is to wipe out the entire Reunion Movement, you think this is a reasonable opportunity to carry out a massacre, right? After all, you didn't do it yourselves, but were forced by us."

"I saved one mouth but shut up hundreds of others. It's a sure-fire deal. Thinking about it that way, am I actually losing out?"

The merchant's expression was contorted, and his tone of voice fluctuated wildly, as if he had gone mad.

“But Rhodes Island, have you forgotten something?” He glanced at the observation tower at the other end of the connecting passage and grinned. “It’s not enough for you to just accept it; the woman in the observation tower has to agree as well.”

"She can survive for a month as long as she's locked up inside... Can she really refuse such a comfortable life and agree to my ridiculous conditions? Haha?"

"I agree." A voice suddenly came from inside the tower.

That was the sound coming from the microphone on the isolation door; it was the sound of Provence.

"I agree to your terms."

"If you want supplies, come and get them, I'll open the door."

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you to everyone in Syracuse, and thank you to the user "Don't Steal My Money" and "Crazy Wand Demon Li Zheng" for the monthly tickets.

Chapter 184, Chapter 183: Beneath the Tower

Doctors always reflect on their actions.

For example, the recent kidnapping incident in Provence.

Could this incident have been avoided at its source? If so, how could it have been avoided, and where did things go wrong in the first place?

But that's not the case.

Because any error is not caused by a single mistake in one step.

The logistics department's increase in the influx of foreign residents, the failed Provence projections, the doctor's flawed planning... a multitude of factors combined to create the current situation. If we must trace the origin of this event, it ultimately leads back to the doctor himself.

That is, the order he himself gave to go to Chernobog.

So, since it cannot be avoided at the source, did he make any mistakes in the remedial measures?

For example, the most crucial factor that determined the outcome of this event was the loose-firing high-energy rock explosive attached to the connection of the observation tower.

The reason the agents were wary of the businessman was entirely because of the remote control he possessed.

Once the remote control is dropped, the bomb will detonate.