Chapter 145 The Earth’s Wastelands 18

Chapter 145 The Earth’s Wastelands 18

The door to the Room of Heavenly Decree opened, and a man who bore a startling resemblance to Harvey stood in the middle of the room. He was naturally none other than York Corben. Next to him stood a boy about twelve, probably his son. The members of this family were quite recognizable. They had the same facial features, the same color in their eyes and hair; they were on the rotund side, but this last point was probably less to do with genetics and more with their sedentary lifestyle.

Feng Bujue was the first to step into the room. Flashes of Sword and Hank followed behind him. When Feng Bujue saw the inside of the room, he understood why the Corben family had banned entry into this room. This so-called Room of Heavenly Decree had nothing to do with religion. The room was filled with control panels and screens. It was clear that this was the spacecraft’s core control room.

"Hidden quest complete," the system announced in the two players’ ears. When they laid their eyes on York Corben, the objective of the mission had been accomplished.

"You have an interesting expression." Feng Bujue observed. "Even though we walked through this door, you appear quite collected. Don’t you care at all about Harvey’s life?"

"If you have killed him, I would have to thank you," York answered calmly.

"Is that so?" Feng Bujue said. "Looks like the siblings don’t share a good relationship, haha... Is it because he has his eyes on your women or wishes to usurp your standing as God’s Child?"

"You are very clever." York nodded. "And rather cruel..."

"Cruel?" Feng Bujue took out his gun with a smile and pulled the trigger. He ended York’s son’s life with a shot to his face. That stunned the other three survivors in the room. Blood and brain matter polluted the floor. The young man collapsed as life departed from his body, and he died next to his father.

Hank widened his eyes, and he was frozen by fear. Even Flashes of Sword was overwhelmed by shock. Even though they were in a game, to kill someone without any hesitation and without any flinching was not something doable by anyone. For the next ten seconds, the room was eerily quiet. Only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

"Hmm... you have an interesting reaction." Feng Bujue studied York’s face.

"You madman..." York’s expression started to change.

"That was your son, right?" Feng Bujue used the barrel of the gun to point at the body on the ground.

"Yes," York answered.

"I killed him right before you, but your brows didn’t even twitch," Feng Bujue observed. "But when you realized I was testing your reaction by killing him, you showed some degree of anxiety.

"Forgive me for my frankness, Mr. Corben, but in terms of cruelty, I am still far beneath you."

Feng Bujue put the gun away.

"A man who killed a child without hesitation dares to critique me about cruelty?" York shot back.

Flashes of Sword chimed in. "Hmm... I would have to agree with him."

Feng Bujue shrugged and looked at York. "For me, I merely shot a stranger, but for you, it was your flesh and blood who died. From your reaction to that fact, it’s really debatable who has a crueler heart."

"I am not going to indulge in meaningless arguments with you," York said. "Since..."

"No matter what, having us gain contact with the humans outside the village is not possible, because once the existence of this village is discovered, the system of dictatorship your Corben family has cultivated for decades will come to an end. You’ll die before you allow that to happen.

"Therefore, you broke this communicator beforehand to prevent that possibility. After all, there will be plenty of time for negotiation."

"Hahaha..." York started to laugh. "I really wish to clap for you. Hahaha..."

York still looked quite at ease.

"Very well said, but you are not as clean as you made it out to be, are you? The reason you didn’t kill me but explained so many things to me is to increase your leverage during the negotiation. Fine, you win. My precious guests and you..." He scoffed with derision and looked at Hank. "You can have anything you want. The women and the resources inside this village, you can enjoy them to your heart’s content."

York kicked his son’s body aside with disgust. "I can come up with an excuse, saying that you are messengers from God, and have you move into this shrine."

He used an air quotes when he said the word ’shrine’, proving that he too realized how preposterous the whole thing was. "After all, the slaves will believe anything you feed them. Just show them some tricks that they haven’t seen before and they will think it’s a miracle from god. Haha...

"So? Think about it. I know how you outsiders think. My ancestor encountered a few outsiders before. Perhaps their initial idea was for the villagers to return to the so-called civilized society, but in the end, they always compromised."

Feng Bujue cut him off. "The equipment in this Room of Heavenly Decree, quite a large portion of it has been fixed and updated by these outsiders, correct?"

"Haha... Indeed." York did not deny it. "indeed, they were the ones who manufactured this device that allows communication with the outside world. Of course, this device hasn’t been used even once. Unless this place is going down due to another atomic war, myself and my people will never leave this place."

"You can use this device to capture the signal of other human spaceships, right?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"You know that as well?" York replied with a darkened face.

"I came up with that confusion on the way here inside the shark coach," Feng Bujue explained. "At the time, I was thinking, how did the scavengers know about the Crystal Lake lab? Where did the coordinates for the autopilot come from? Soon, I came upon this possibility... In this village, someone, probably the ruler, has the power to trace and follow the signals of spaceships.

"Since other humans occasionally come to Old Earth to conduct archaeological activities, you only need to track the signals of these small units, memorize their movement charts and how long they stayed, and triangulate the coordinates of the ruin they found. After those teams left, you’d send the coordinates to the related department and have them send people out to scavenge. The order trickled down the system until it was carried out by the scavengers."

Hank was hit by the truth when he heard that. "So, that is the truth behind those coordinates!"

Before this, he had been curious about where the coordinates for their mission objective came from, and now he had the answer.

"You disgusting creature! The Corben family has always had the power to communicate with the outside world, but you’ve been using years upon years of lies to enslave us! To limit our thoughts, to hide the truth from us!"

The more he ruminated on it, the angrier he became. He, his family, and his ancestors had lived such pitiful lives. From their birth to their death, they were dictated by another person.

York scoffed.

"Humph... Truth? Even without that, the villagers are surviving just fine, aren’t they?" He raised his voice and continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "It is us Corbens who gave you a purpose in life; we have even given you a religion. From your birth to your death, as long as you follow the rules and do the work you’re given, you will have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food on the table, and a family to care for. You will have a life without worry and confusion. What is so bad about that?"

He turned to face Hank and uttered in a condescending tone, "Do you understand the real world? You really think the outside is better than this place? I’ve read the history of Old Earth, and I know that today’s human beings haven’t really learned their lesson. Nothing has changed. As long as there are humans, there will be sin and war, be it on Earth or in space.

"The Village of Heavenly Blessing is true paradise! Do not forget that it is the Corben family that has given you this paradise!"