Chapter 543 - Chapter 543: Chapter 357: Shattering the Divine, A Summary of Civilization_1

Chapter 543: Chapter 357: Shattering the Divine, A Summary of Civilization_1

As Harrison Clark boarded the return-bound spacecraft and headed straight for Earth, the massive statue removal plan had already been approved and immediately implemented.

Presently, humans have built hundreds of large cities and tens of thousands of medium-sized cities and settlements in the Solar System, as well as many more industrial bases and military camps.

A total of 33,762 statues of the sage Harrison Clark were being quickly dismantled by automated machinery, starting from their heads.

Harrison Clark watched the crowd in the statue square through the live surveillance provided by Star.

Before the operation began, almost everyone had been notified.

Then, almost everyone put aside what they were doing and came over here.

At this moment, statue squares in major cities and settlements were packed with people.

People looked up at the sky, some with gritted teeth, some with tears streaming down their faces, some cursing aloud, and others numb and rigid…

Although everyone knew that this was the request of the sage himself, countless people still couldn’t help but feel emotional as they watched the statues being dismantled.

Some even went out of control and tried to defend the sacred ground with their lives.

The soldiers responsible for maintaining order had no choice but to use forceful means to control the situation.

Tear gas, area-wide electric shocks, enforced lassos, and powerful anesthesia smoke…

But actually, these soldiers themselves were not feeling well either.

If anything, they were even more distressed than ordinary citizens.

Soldiers were the most devout followers of the sage Harrison Clark.

But as their duty was to execute orders, they had no choice but to become villains in this situation.

Their rationality made them obey the decisions made by Harrison Clark and the defense army’s higher-ups, but they still struggled internally.

What seemed like a simple statue removal turned into a painful and tumultuous event for the whole civilization, akin to quitting smoking or even drugs.

This scene caused Harrison Clark great pain.

No one had more mixed emotions than him.

He silently turned off the monitor, unwilling to watch any further.

With a sigh, Harrison Clark picked up the purple clay teapot in front of him, holding it in the palm of his hand, and felt the burning temperature from it.

He looked out of the window of the shuttle, trying to soothe his emotions with the view of the stars.

But he failed, his gaze involuntarily drifting downward.

As the shuttle ascended, Harrison Clark looked down and saw the statue built on the Summit Fortress.

This metal statue stood 35 kilometers tall, reaching beyond the fortress’s protective force field, even higher than its atmosphere.

This was the largest statue built by human civilization for Harrison Clark, with a unique name, Summit Colossus.

The Summit Colossus was different from other statues.

It wasn’t a lifeless object but a massive humanoid machine with true combat capabilities.

In addition to being the largest statue of Harrison Clark, the Summit Colossus was the largest humanoid soldier ever created by humans.

Humanity had only made one such humanoid soldier that stood over a hundred meters tall.

Top Galaxy battle warriors could wear the Omnipotent Warrior Form Armor to enter and control the Colossus through a secondary link.

The Summit Colossus incorporated the latest technologies from numerous research units such as the Mechanical Institute, Power Institute, Explosion Institute, Super-large Mechanical Central Control System Research Institute, and Bionics Institute, representing the pride of countless people.

Just three months ago, the Summit Colossus had undergone a comprehensive technological upgrade and completed a high-mobility exercise.

As a technological showcase for many research institutes and an important historical symbol, the Summit Colossus had always been a source of pride for the residents of the Summit Fortress.

However, Harrison Clark found it ridiculous.

The Colossus’ symbolic significance was the only thing it had going for it.

Making a humanoid battle armor of this size resulted in an extremely unreasonable allocation of mobility and firepower.

In space battles, it would be nothing more than an idiotic moving target.

The battlefield effectiveness of such a huge humanoid weapon could never be equivalent to several warships of the same weight or a group of micro-fighters.

Creating such a thing was a pure waste of resources and precious lives of technical personnel.

Scholars and the military must have realized this, or else they wouldn’t have made only one of them.

So the claims of technological showcases were pure nonsense. The real purpose was still to erect a statue in his honor.

What was even more annoying was that people were reluctant to dismantle the Summit Colossus and reassemble it into small fighters. Instead, they planned to change its face to that of a faceless person.

As part of the Summit Fortress renovation plan, the Summit Colossus would transform into a two-legged intelligent warship, orbiting the fortress and barely providing some better-than-nothing escort functionality.

Harrison Clark snapped shut the window, not wanting to look anymore.

Annoying.

I did indeed make a mistake.

As a thief, I eventually became intoxicated with the illusion of fame.

A thousand years ago, I shouldn’t have blindly elevated my status.

All this was the bitter fruit of my vanity.

Now, the people and I tasted it together.

He opened the all-channel communication.

“I’m Harrison Clark, and I have something to tell you all.”

He said a lot.

He had never said so much in a public speech before.

He shared with the people his journey from being an ordinary person to his current position.

He expressed his deep remorse and self-criticism.

He scolded both others and himself.

The general message was that he was wrong and admitted it.

He could make mistakes too.

He didn’t care for their worship.

He wanted them to learn to resist everything.

Even if it was he who oppressed them, they should resist and show it to him.