Great Power Technology

"You don't seem surprised by our arrival?"

Conn sat down opposite McKinsey, took out a cigar from the cigar box on the table, cut it open slowly, but did not light it, but handed it to the other person's hand.

McKenzie took the cigar, extinguished the one in his hand, and then replied:

"Yes, I've known you would come for a long time - and, unlike what you think, I don't think this is such a scary thing."

"I'm not afraid of you. When I was planning to do this, I had already anticipated my ending."

Conn nodded and signaled his men to lower their guns. Everyone in the room had been disarmed, but except for the two people sitting opposite each other, the atmosphere between others was still tense.

Seeing this action, McKinsey calmly asked his subordinates to retreat, and then said:

"Now, I think we are ready to have a good chat."

Hearing this, Conn smiled and said:

"You don't think you can convince me to let you go by 'negotiating conditions' today, do you? I'm curious about what other chips you have in your hand."

"Of course, if it weren't for this kind of curiosity, you would have died the first time you entered the door."

"That doesn't matter."

McKenzie lowered his head and smoked a cigar, with a calm expression on his face. From Conn's perspective, there was even a kind of holiness hidden in it.

It's like what he has to do is some kind of sacrifice.

Conn sighed, leaned back on the sofa, looked into McKinsey's eyes and said:

"McKinsey, we are not very good friends, but from the moment Hermes was established, we have been fighting side by side."

"I can't figure out why you would betray Hermes. Would it do you any good?"

"Of course."

McKinsey nodded solemnly and replied:

"Realistically, this is the final decision I can make."

"Even two months ago, I never thought about doing such a thing to harm the interests of the entire organization. My idea is that although the Ark organization has differences in philosophy and direction with Hermes, this These differences are not irreconcilable."

"We are brothers who fight side by side. We have done many things together, achieved many goals that others could not even imagine, and changed the world."

"So, everything should be negotiable, everything should be handled in a gentler way."

"But unfortunately, you don't seem to think so."

"Conn, do you remember how many times our proposals were rejected by you?"

Hearing his words, Conn shook his head silently and replied:

"I don't remember. In fact, I receive dozens of proposals every day from all over the world, and every one of those proposals is as weak and hypocritical as the 'consciousness uploading' you advocate."

"Do you want me to give a serious reply to all these proposals? Do you think this is possible?"

McKinsey sighed and replied:

"Look, Conn, you're always like this."

"You are always so arbitrary, self-righteous, and self-confident to the point of being arrogant. You are never willing to listen to what others have to say, and you never accept any different opinions."

"This is the crux of the problem, haven't you noticed?"

Conn smiled coldly and retorted:

"The premise for me to listen to your opinions is that the opinions you put forward must be reasonable. Consciousness uploading? Isn't this escapism? Have you forgotten the original intention of establishing Hermes?"

McKenzie looked solemn. He stared into Conn's eyes and said:

"First of all, Ark is not a fugitive group, and we have never thought of abandoning anyone."

"But you've given up on who you are as a human being."

Conn interrupted him mercilessly. McKinsey still wanted to argue, but he directly stretched out his hand to stop him.

"I don't want to hear any more of your useless nonsense, and I don't want to bother you with the details of technology and philosophy anymore. Now, tell me directly, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Don't you know exactly what we are going to do?"

“We want to use the influence of Hermes to back up the information we are going to put out – just like you see in the news.”

"No, you can't."

McKinsey shook his head, threw a stack of printed reports from the carrying belt behind him, and said:

"Let's take a closer look. Most public opinion believes that this is just an internal fight within the Hermes organization. Even for ordinary people, they don't know the relationship between Ark and Hermes."

"They probably thought this was an operation similar to attacking the Natural Cult - public opinion is still on our side."

"Our prestige has been established long ago. People may dislike us, hate us, and question our overly drastic methods, but they will never doubt our purpose."

"Don't you know this?"

"Of course, I know it. It's precisely because of this that we do so many things."

McKenzie replied with a smile, paused for a moment, and then continued:

"Do you know why we need to contact Els?"

"You know, he is a perfect victim, and you want to use his identity to release the information you want to release - I only figured this out after the news appeared, but it was too late."

"I shouldn't have launched this raid. This is your trap."

"Yes, it's a trap and you can't go back - the video he recorded will be released in five minutes and the world will see that video."

"What's the content?"

"Of course it is content that is beneficial to our goals - specific, you can see it yourself."

"You don't want to say it?"

Conn's brows furrowed. He took out a dagger from his leg and slapped it on the table. He looked at McKinsey with a threatening look, but the other party didn't seem to be afraid of it.

"McKinsey, this is your last chance. You know that if you enter our interrogation process, we will definitely make you regret coming to this world."

"Of course, of course, I know that."

"So, it's not that I don't want to say it, it's just that I'm too lazy to say it."

"Do you know what news was released at the same time as that video?"

Conn frowned and looked at McKinsey, who laughed and continued:

"The Ark organization was completely wiped out, and the main characters disappeared mysteriously."

"You see, one raid isn't enough to convince you - what if we all die?"

"What if the Ark organization disappears?"

"Do you think people will forget us? No, they will remember us."

"They can't help but doubt, speculate, and use conspiracy theories to speculate about Hermes."

"When that time comes, they will do everything they can to discover the truth - to discover the truth that we have prepared for them."

"And you can't change that because right now, that message is out."

"My interrogation is meaningless. Even if you know all our strategies, what can you do? What should happen has already happened, and you have found the wrong point from the beginning, so this makes you slower than us. One step forward."

At this point, McKinsey sighed.

"So, you can only kill me now. This is the only way to minimize the loss."

Conn's face was so gloomy that he could almost squeeze out water. He had never experienced the feeling of being led around like this.

He held the handle of the knife tightly and said in a stern tone:

"I will definitely torture you."

"No, you won't."

McKinsey took a puff of his cigar calmly and said:

"You are an efficient person - even if you are acting so angry now, your character does not allow you to be truly angry. This is just a performance."

"Every resource of the Hermes Organization is valuable. You will not continue to waste manpower on me. This is you."

"So, we don't have to act anymore."

"Conn, let's do it, I'm ready."

Conn took a deep breath, and the expression on his face changed. Then, he asked:

"Why do you have to use your life as a bargaining chip?"

"Not just my life, but theirs."

McKenzie pointed to the man beside him, and then continued:

"Actually, this isn't a bargaining chip, it's just a necessity."

"We are explorers. And explorers will be burned to death."