"By the way, where is this place?" An Ming finally had time to look around.
"It's an old subway from the Second Empire era, and the building above it is an old train station. They share a station," Erica explained.
"I see. It's a train station. It seems the person who attacked me earlier was receiving something there."
"Are they...receiving something?"
Erica looked puzzled. How did Senior An Ming connect the old train station and the attackers to receiving things?
"To put it simply..."
An Ming lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at Erica and muttered to himself, "Is it not okay not to explain?"
Erica tilted her head in confusion at her senior's mumbling.
After hesitating for a long time, An Ming took a deep breath, looked at Erica seriously, and spoke.
"Erica, I can now tell you the truth about the Marigold Throne. This truth may be related to the person who attacked us today."
"The truth? I want to hear it!"
Erica's eyes widened when she heard the words "Marigold Throne".
She visited Heibil and worked with An Ming. To put it bluntly, their ultimate goal was to investigate those guys. Now An Ming suddenly decided to confess for some unknown reason, and she couldn't even say the three words "I don't want to listen".
"Now that you've heard it, there's really no turning back. Once they find out that you know the truth, you'll probably be killed."
"Even if I heard it, they wouldn't know, right?"
"Knowing the truth itself is sometimes a sin. When they suspect you one day, you won't even have the chance to deny it. If you didn't know anything at the beginning, you wouldn't have lied, right?"
Erica only took a second to think about An Ming's reason and then answered.
"I want to listen." Erica immediately said seriously, "Senior An Ming, maybe you have forgotten. I have already said, 'I hope to have an ally who stands on the opposite side of the Marigold Throne like me. Now that ally is you.' From the beginning, I have regarded myself as your ally. So what does it matter whether I listen or not? If I am discovered, I will have a companion when I die, right?"
Erica stuck out her tongue playfully.
An Ming waved his hands helplessly and said.
"You are really a guy who is not afraid of death."
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
"First, let me help you sort out a few events. You know the 'Capital City Tragedy', right? After reading my file, you certainly know that I am the only survivor. But do you know why the 'tragedy' happened?"
"…The federal government has not released any information about the incident eight years ago, except to say that it was done by the 'Cretaceous Beast'. It's just like what happened during the Lan Civil War."
Erica tried to answer, recalling her memories of the incident eight years ago.
"Senior, do you know the truth?"
"Someone told me that sometimes the truth is extremely ridiculous. I didn't believe it when I was a child, but later I believed it. The tragedy in the capital city eight years ago was such an incident."
An Ming kept saying it was ridiculous, but there was no smile on his face. He spoke with a tense face as if he was facing an enemy.
Eight years ago, the tragedy in the capital city was simply the result of a political infighting.
There is a special organization deep inside the federal government, and they are the core of the Languo Federation. This organization is not monolithic, and it is divided into several factions. The leader of one of the factions is eager to achieve success, and they released the "most advanced chalk beast" into the dead city for a "phased power test experiment" because another faction's experiment was also being carried out at the same time. They urgently need to prove that the next generation of chalk beasts in their hands is successful.
"You're saying that the tragedy eight years ago was just the result of an experiment? They used tens of millions of residents in their own city for experiments?!"
Erica gritted her teeth. She didn't want to believe this, but An Ming's tone was so firm that she couldn't argue. At least when it came to the tragedy in the capital, An Ming would never joke around.
"No, in fact, the initial target of the experiment was only the residents of the dead city. After all, the residents of the dead city can hardly provide taxes, and are not considered as a serious labor force. Their existence only creates social pressure for the Federation, and they can be eliminated through the experiment. But they didn't expect the experiment to get out of control, and the threat range was wider than expected, even extending to the edge of the city center. Those 'more deaths than expected' are the 'tragedy'."
"This is a bit too cold-blooded..."
Erica didn't want to believe it, but she had to.
She was a "noble" and she knew the ways of the old people in her family better than anyone else. Although equality was advocated, the value of people in this world was "high and low". Those old people living deep in the Federation could abandon those who were of no value to them without hesitation.
Even she herself is just a "defective product of the family" and an "object" that can be replaced.
An Ming did not respond to Erica's murmur. He changed the subject and talked about something else.
"Do you know how the Lancelot Federation was established fifty years ago?"
"It's written in the history book at school that the Federation defeated the old Second Empire in the war. I remember there were some very exaggerated words..."
"'It was a sad age, it was a brave age, it was a bloody age, it was a dark age. But it was eventually replaced by the golden age.' Isn't that right?"
"Senior, have you learned this too?"
"My adoptive father taught me some things, but since I was only responsible for killing people, I didn't study it seriously." An Ming paused, realizing that he had gone off topic. "Anyway, this is how the Federation describes that war. But have you ever thought about why the Second Empire, which was at the top level in the West at the time, was defeated by an unknown group that came later in just a few years?"
"Federal soldiers are more brave and good at fighting?"
"Based on my observations during my military missions, their organization and discipline are not very good. In some garrisons, there have been many reports of insults to women."
Erica frowned, not knowing what An Ming was up to.
"…I can't think of that."
"I'll remind you of an event. Humans first discovered that the 'Cretaceous Beast' appeared on the battlefield of the Lan Civil War."
Erica's eyes widened again after hearing this.
"You mean, the people who supported the Lancelot Federation deployed the 'Cretaceous Beasts' in the civil war? Those monsters were their weapons from the beginning?"
Although Erica wanted to refute, all the fragments were connected by this clue. The Lancelot Federation probably won the battle because it mastered the ability to create and control the chalk beasts. At the same time, it was also because of the chalk beast experiments that the chalk beast attacks frequently occurred within the Federation.
Therefore, the farther away from the capital city, the fewer the Cretaceous Beast incidents there are, because the capital city and the surrounding urban areas are essentially the testing grounds of the Lanslo Federation.
Even if it were really that good, would those monsters really be worth risking human lives to test?
However, An Ming immediately gave Erica an explanation.
As the saying goes, the victory of a war cannot be determined by the power of one person. But what if that person possesses power from a completely different generation? He is invulnerable to swords and guns, extremely strong, and even tireless.
The Blackwater Mechanized Forces of the Second Empire have proven that the old-time sword cavalry has no chance of winning against the Yodel composite armored steam locomotive and the continuous steam guns. The armor of those cavalry is so weak that it is no different from paper.
A combat-specialized Cretaceous Beast could have the combat power of a regular army company. If the Lancelot Federation could deploy hundreds of such monsters in that battle, the result would be unimaginable.
"But what does this have to do with the Marigold Throne?"
Erica couldn't help but return to the topic. Although she vaguely knew her answer, she still wanted to hear someone else say it.
"The deep organization under the Federation is the Marigold Throne."
An Ming gave the answer concisely and without leaving anyone in suspense.
"Here is my guess. During the civil war, some people from the Marigold Throne may have discovered new weapons that rivaled the Cretaceous Beasts, or the Cretaceous Beasts' casualty ratio on the battlefield was not as good as expected, so the experiment was shelved. It was precisely because of this that another group of people rushed to carry out the experiment. They were eager to prove that the Cretaceous Beasts in their hands were useful, so that the core elders would continue to increase their investment in the research of Cretaceous Beasts. In any case, as long as it involves Cretaceous Beasts, it must be related to them."
All the clues are connected one by one, but the truth is not ideal, Erica thought.
What did Senior An Ming think after he knew the truth? He must want revenge on those guys. But his anger cannot be directed at the Lan Federation, because it is just the arbitrary behavior of some faction leaders, nor can it be directed at the chalk beasts, because they are just weapons.
"Don't make that expression," An Ming patted Erica's head, "I've let go of what happened eight years ago. I sent those bastards who caused the tragedy to hell. There's no need to dwell on it now."
After hearing what An Ming said, Erica nodded.
"Let's get back to the beginning. I knew that the controlled 'Champion' was related to the Marigold Throne, so I could infer that the person who attacked us was receiving some cargo here. After all, such a hidden station with even the alarm device intact is too suspicious, and it can be used to secretly transport certain goods. Maybe some cargo arrived in this city tonight, and the cargo is so valuable that they need to send a high-level chalk beast and a receiver who is stronger than me to protect it."
Even An Ming himself felt uneasy when he said this. Suddenly, a few familiar faces in this city came to his mind. The director, Kaka, Mark, Leka, and the girl in front of him.
Perhaps the actual incident was much more serious than he imagined. An Ming suddenly had a premonition that he seemed to be drawn into some vortex again.