Chapter 178: A Fake was a Fake
Cheng Qisheng witnessed the entire process.
More precisely, it was Old Eighth, who was responsible for guarding the place, who witnessed everything firsthand. Cheng Qisheng simply used the perspective of her believers to see everything that happened inside the laboratory as clear as day.
Yes, Blue Sea’s surveillance cameras were wired. They could simply be unplugged.
But if Blue Sea really wanted to monitor the entire area through surveillance cameras, then even without the human-implant surveillance chip technology from Moon Silk, installing a camera four meters up on the ceiling—out of reach of the researchers—wasn’t exactly difficult for them.
The reason Blue Sea hadn’t done so was because all the guards stationed outside the laboratory were ability users.
With their hearing, they could hear everything. Even if an ant sneezed inside the room, they would be able to hear it loud and clear.
Naturally, they had also heard the entire performance of Hale’s Death.
The guards said nothing. Wearing their masks, they silently dragged Hale’s corpse away.
Cheng Qisheng wasn’t particularly surprised, either.
A fake was a fake.
[Ota] could deceive the Three Great Companies because all they saw was a superficial facade.
Even when they sent spies, every single one of them met the same fate—not one ever made it back.
[Ota] could also deceive the residents of the other Safe Cities, because those residents weren’t permitted to enter [Ota]’s inner circle in the first place. Even after getting hired, they were only allowed to operate in the Broken River Wasteland.
—Just like those Safe City residents who had only recently entered the Broken River Wasteland and had once seen the round surveillance cameras at the station.
Hahaha. Actually, those weren’t surveillance cameras at all.
They were tiny, tiny little airships.
Blue Sea had always used drones for its external surveillance.
Unfortunately, on Moon Silk, drones were relatively outdated technology. That was why Lilith had been commissioned to mass-produce a batch of these tiny, tiny little airships to serve as surveillance devices.
There weren’t many of these “surveillance cameras,” however, so they only appeared at the First Station.
The main purpose was to let the residents of other Safe Cities see them, leaving them with the impression that [Ota] was unfathomably powerful.
As for the local researchers who had been brought into the Institute of Science and Technology, they weren’t merely visiting the real Blue Sea. They interacted with Blue Sea’s people every day, and their work inevitably required them to come into contact with Blue Sea’s technology.
An outsider might not understand what they were looking at, but an expert only needed to see it once to easily notice that something was off.
Take, for example, the pieced-together airships Lilith manufactured. They incorporated Blue Sea technology, Safe City artifacts, materials from other civilizations, and magical spells and runes all into one.
From the outside, they looked like ordinary airships. But once an expert in airship manufacturing got inside one, they could immediately tell that something wasn’t right.
The feeling was rather like Old Eighth picking up a spear made of paper. It was hard to mistake it for the real thing.
They might have all sorts of guesses in their minds.
[Ota] was another local power.
[Ota] was the government that had been destroyed back then.
Or perhaps [Ota] was simply a group of New Humans.
But whatever the truth was, there was one thing the researchers could rest assured about: [Ota] wasn’t going to remove their brains.
And that was fine.
Once everyone knew where they stood, it made getting along much easier.
Just look at them. After Hale’s Death, these researchers working with the research materials had become much more forthright about asking Blue Sea for raw materials or changing their research directions on their own.
It didn’t matter what [Ota] really was.
These researchers still retained the same characteristic as Coleen, Jin Yin, and the others.
Whenever they arrived somewhere new, they always felt compelled to produce some results.
And coincidentally, they happened to have a few ideas.
…
Bo Huan had passed the written exam.
All those brain cells he’d sacrificed hadn’t been wasted. He had memorized the Ota Guard Written Examination practically backward and forward.
To avoid being caught cheating, he’d even deliberately gotten a few questions wrong during the exam, making sure there was no chance he’d get a perfect score.
After the written exam came the interview.
There wasn’t much to say about this part. All he had to do was fight the examiner.
The examiner at [Ota]’s testing site was practically a psychopath. Bo Huan watched helplessly as he fought more than a hundred candidates in succession, one after another. Yet when it was finally Bo Huan’s turn, the examiner still looked as energetic as ever.
Bo Huan didn’t use his earth-type supernatural ability, but even so, the body of a Tier 3 ability user was incredibly powerful on its own. Even fighting barehanded, he was no pushover.
Yet when facing this instructor, he was almost completely dominated.
As expected of [Ota].
The examiner’s strength was actually far beyond that of a Tier 3 ability user like him.
Bo Huan dropped to one knee and coughed dryly, looking up at the white-clad examiner. The man’s strength made him instinctively wary.
He estimated that if he encountered this examiner out in the field, even if he tried to use his supernatural ability, the other man’s reaction speed was so fast that he could probably have his neck snapped before he even managed to turn the soil into a weapon.
“Bo Huan, 78 points.”
The examiner in white announced his score.
Bo Huan let out a long breath of relief.
With 78 points added to his written-exam score, he’d passed. He could now sneak into [Ota] as a guard.
He had already figured out what to do next.
Why had Bo Huan chosen to apply as a guard?
For one thing, [Ota] had a clearly defined recruitment process for its guards. For another, he’d already worked as a guard in a Safe City before.
Using “guard” as his starting point, he’d climbed quite a long way up the ladder. Otherwise, how would he have known the inside story behind the City Lords’ choice of [Companies]?
All right. He just needed to do it all over again from the beginning.
First, become a guard. Build good relationships with his colleagues and superiors. Keep everyone happy. Bribe people left and right. Maintain connections in every direction. Build ties both above and below him. Work his way steadily up the ranks.
While completing his missions, he also needed to make sure he lined his own pockets with a few benefits along the way.
The [Company] was rotten to the core. If he could climb to a sufficiently high position, he might be able to get his hands on quite a few weapons from Moon Silk.
And achieving his goal would always require some sacrifices.
Bo Huan touched the inner pocket of his clothes. Inside were four Tier 2 Nuclear crystals.
They were his entire life savings.
Bo Huan steeled himself against the pain in his heart and made up his mind.
First, once he officially took the job, he would give one to his superior.
Although a squad leader at a guard station was still a small fry within the entirety of [Ota], you had to climb the ladder one step at a time. The first step was crucial, and he absolutely couldn’t afford to be stingy.
…
The next day, he followed his plan and went to the guards’ station in Moonbreath Town to report for duty.
“So you’re the new guard?”
The captain looked him up and down several times.
Bo Huan was very familiar with that look. It was an old hand evaluating a newcomer. Next, he was supposed to listen obediently to a long-winded lecture from his superior, maintaining an attitude of meek obedience and showing the utmost admiration for him throughout.
Then, once the lecture was over, he would present the Energy Crystal, say a few flattering words, invite everyone out for a meal, and spend some money to purchase his guard uniform…
“Here. Your uniform.”
Bo Huan was just about to put on his most reverent expression when two packages of uniforms were stuffed into his arms.
The guard captain said, “This package is for hot weather. This one is for cold weather.”
“Here’s your meal card, dormitory card, medical card, transportation card…”
A pile of small, round cards was placed on top of the two packages of uniforms as well.
“All right. It’s your first day here. Go to the dormitory and get your things settled.”
The captain clapped his hands and motioned for the other guards to come over.
“We’ve got a new employee joining us today. According to [Company] regulations, there’s a small welcome dinner this afternoon. The [Company] is paying, so everyone go somewhere nice and enjoy yourselves!”
The guards removed their masks. Their faces remained expressionless, but the hands patting Bo Huan on the shoulder were exceptionally enthusiastic.
“Welcome to [Ota].”
“What do you want to eat?”
Bo Huan: “…”
Wait a second. Was this really how some lowly, insignificant guard was treated on his first day?
He looked utterly bewildered.
But then his ears twitched, and he instinctively looked out the window.
Outside, huge numbers of densely packed, circular objects flew past. Before long, they spread out and took up the entire sky above the town.
Bo Huan’s shoulders tensed. Before he could even assume a defensive stance, the captain slapped him on the shoulder, breaking his defensive posture.
“The [Company] is deploying surveillance. Don’t worry about it.”
Surveillance?!
Bo Huan looked up at the sky, his pupils trembling slightly.
These surveillance devices, each only about the size of a fist, had rapidly filled the entire sky above the Broken River Wasteland.
