People are in Type-Moon, but they practice science

Chapter 461: The Great American Divide

When did it start?

This war was like a lifetime ago for all Americans... no, it was a huge war and catastrophe that shocked everyone in the world.

It was the end of December 2003, and the sky was extremely gloomy. The young police chief Orlando Leaf thought that what was coming would probably be the worst Christmas in American history.

Maybe no one has the time to celebrate the festival.

Because of war, because of disaster.

Everything changed so fast that there was no time to breathe.

Not long after the war started in mid-November, the federal government that he had been proud of, or that any American citizen should have taken for granted, was crushed from all sides when facing the Academy City forces in naval and air battles.

Afterwards, when the federal government still failed to achieve decisive results after the army troops advanced from Central America, all kinds of mutations and disasters seemed to have opened Pandora's box and flooded into this continental country with a relatively weak civilization.

At first, no one cared about the disaster.

It was just an abnormal daylight phenomenon, or the resurrection of a dormant volcano, or a storm in the south, or the fall of asteroid fragments. But as long as it did not affect us, it was just a string of numbers. Apart from a brief mourning or regret for our compatriots far away, we would return to our daily lives.

Until this disaster, it has deeply affected everyone living on this earth.

[The volcanic group in Yellowstone Park has been confirmed to be a super-Plinian eruption, far exceeding any record in history. The volcanic material it spreads could cover the entire North America within a few months, but due to the current trend of atmospheric circulation disorder, experts predict that it may drift beyond the borders of the northwest...]

[The unknown black flood that appeared in Nevada has spread to several surrounding state administrative regions. The disaster has been well controlled...]

[Regarding the sudden, super-large earthquake that spread throughout the western United States, due to the difference in the intensity of each seismic wave, it is confirmed that the earthquake magnitude is generally between 6.0 and 8.5. Except for special cases, most cities have not suffered major casualties due to good emergency measures...]

'All lies.'

Orlando recalled these real-time reports. If he had not known about the existence of the magician and that there were indeed people handling these incidents, he would probably have been overwhelmed by the sudden wave of disasters like an ordinary citizen.

Who would have thought that the one that actually played a role in disaster relief was not the federal government or the local government, but Academy City, which had been on the opposing side from the beginning.

Orlando approached the city hall of Snowfield City as if with countless complicated thoughts in his mind.

The city was originally built to host the Holy Grail War, so the mayor and the city government's organizational personnel were all filled with magicians or ordinary people who knew the secrets in key positions. As the representative of the public security function, the police chief Orlando naturally knew all the inside stories. However, when the disaster occurred, Academy City airdropped "rescue personnel" and used the incredible superpower called "superpower" to forcibly occupy all the command systems in the city.

Even if Orlando didn't know about the arrival of Academy City, he would be aware of the changes in the administrative personnel here.

The reason is that the special departments that were supposed to play a leading role and maintain close contact, such as Faldius and others, suddenly disappeared without a trace, and later the leader of the airborne operation, the Holy Sepulchre Church, which gathered a group of troops, also disappeared without a trace. Some people witnessed a flying object flying away from the location of the church. Perhaps all the personnel were transferred from that time?

There were a lot of scattered stones and debris on the ground, not much, just debris that hadn't been cleaned up in time. Orlando walked slowly. Regardless of the distance, all the buildings stood firmly, as if they had ignored the recent earthquake.

It's very strange. Xueyuan City was hardly affected by the earthquake. The magnitude of the earthquake was probably less than 3, which can be said to be a very slight tremor.

If Orlando hadn't known the true information about the damage caused by the earthquake in various places, he would have almost ignored the abnormality here - was this done in Academy City? How was it done?

Orlando walked into the city hall with increasing confusion. As the police chief, he was invited by Academy City. This was probably the first formal invitation from the two warring parties in Snowfield City for the purpose of negotiation.

Not far away, a strange tower stood up from nowhere.

It's very Academy City-style sci-fi, Orlando commented with a certain stereotype.

There was another person who was also looking at the tower. He was an old magician named "Chirk" who came with him.

Before the establishment of Snowfield City, the Chilk family was the magic family that occupied this land and spiritual vein. However, later on, under the will of the state and the means of many magician families, their land was taken away.

In other words, the government of Xueyuan City is the enemy of the Chilk family, and the elders of the family appearing in the city government openly is even more incredible. The only way to think about it is that Academy City really controls the operation of this city.

The old man from the Chilk family seemed to notice the young director and walked into the hall first with an indifferent expression.

When they finished observing the tower, Fujino's red eyes no longer looked at them and turned away without their knowledge. The tower was not something that could be easily peeped into.

When Orlando entered the hall, he found that it was almost full.

Most of them stood around the walls, and in the center of the hall was a woman with an oriental face named 'Kurotō'.

No one dared to disrespect her, unless they wanted to be burned to ashes by the flames ignited from their own bodies.

Not long ago, a large number of monsters emerged from the strange black wave and confirmed this with their lives.

Some people were wary, as if they were wearing magic costumes of unknown use. Unfortunately, most of their efforts were in vain.

More people choose to communicate in low voices in groups of three or four.

Orlando's gaze wandered over and he found that these people who used to be arrogant now looked visibly anxious or confused.

Originally, except for a few people like Chirk, most of them were the few who mastered magic resources in this land (although they were just a group of low-quality magicians in the Western magic world). Backed by strong national strength and international influence, they were confident that they could build a large magic-side consortium comparable to the "Clock Tower" or even the "Eastern Union Association". They even had all the conditions for the Holy Grail War. If they could use it to complete the "Third Law Perpetual Motion Machine", they would become a very powerful force in both the inner and outer worlds.

However, after just one month, all developments overturned their beautiful fantasies.

First, the international war situation was lost. Second, the Holy Grail War gradually got out of control. The original person in charge, Faldius, and several special formations were all out of contact. The Archangel of the sponsoring Church of the Holy Land did not effectively attack the Academy City at all, and then also lost contact, and the entire base fortress flew away directly. Disasters occurred frequently in various places. Those who knew the truth more or less could not make a better response except for the fear that had nowhere to vent. Some people also proposed to apply to the higher-ups for modern troops to bomb, but in the end it was nothing.

There is a double blockade of the Academy City Aerospace Fleet and satellite gamma rays in the sky, and there is also obstruction of black sea water on the ground.

Even if they could fight across Academy City, how effective would modern weapons be against gods? The energy and destructive power of the natural disasters they brought about with a wave of their hands completely surpassed human nuclear weapons.

However, it turns out that Academy City seems to be able to deal with them.

Orlando withdrew his observation of this group of magicians and incompetent philistine politicians and looked towards the center of the hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet."

Miss. Heitong - or should I say Heitong Flower, she did not say much nonsense. On this occasion, she was not the main speaker. She just turned on the virtual imaging device, and a man wearing glasses appeared in everyone's sight.

The noise from the crowd suddenly subsided.

"——Everyone here should have my information," said the man far away in Las Vegas, "I am Walter, the founder of ETStudio, and also a member of Academy City."

Walter observed the expressions of the crowd, "You may all be particularly concerned about the recent disasters. The frequent disasters and the number of casualties are unprecedented. Our Academy City deeply regrets this, and at the same time, we have spared no effort to invest a lot of manpower and material resources for the purpose of 'rescue'... I believe you all already understand this."

After finishing the official remarks, Walter began to get to the point. "But I have brought you some bad news this time. You may not know this yet, or you may have noticed it but are afraid to confirm it. In short, everyone, you have been abandoned by your 'superiors.'"

"What--!"

As if a depth charge had been dropped, the crowd became noisy. Of course, many people were just following the performance and wanted to see what Walter was up to.

Walter didn't say much, just played a video.

It was a routine meeting of the City on the Hill.

The people in the City on the Hill were familiar to everyone present. Many of them were bigwigs in the military and political circles, or wealthy businessmen who funded many congressmen. But they were actually the top people in the country who controlled the resources of magic. They were the planners and behind-the-scenes leaders of the Holy Grail War. Those gathered in Snowfield City were just their subordinates, "black gloves", and pawns that could be discarded at any time.

The conclusion of the meeting of [The City on the Hill] also confirmed this: they believed that the situation of the Holy Grail War was out of control, and those walking gods had the ability to maintain their existence even after the war, and they were completely unable to use them. So they decided to let the federal government issue a decree to abandon the entire western United States and concentrate the planned magic forces' business territory in the eastern region.

In other words, the people in this hall were abandoned and became scapegoats.

Image ends.

The atmosphere in the crowd fell into complete silence.

Young Orlando stared at the bigwigs who made the absurd decision in disbelief. He realized that he might have had some unrealistic fantasies about the top magicians in this country.

Orlando might have thought that they would consider things at the level of "greater justice". As a young man, he believed in some kind of "theory of justice".

However, among the generally pessimistic crowd, an old man walked out. It was the old man from the Chilk family. "Academy City... is here to help us?"

He is different from other magicians. The family he represents has no power. Although there are many members in the family, the spiritual vein resources have been occupied. In order to gain the hope of regaining the ancestral land of the spiritual vein, the family even plans to sacrifice a large number of descendants to enhance the next generation of Tini Chirk's control over the land.

Otherwise, it will be impossible to continue to survive in such a world.

"——Of course, Academy City has chosen to help you, otherwise there would not be this call." Walter said, "As you can see, the performance of the federal government and Congress since last month has been disappointing. Obviously, we cannot rely on such weak and incompetent state agencies. In the face of unprecedented human crises and uncertain risks that may be encountered in the future, we need a political system with stronger execution and cohesion, as well as advanced and comprehensive productivity support and military protection."

Walter's "assistance" was, as expected, the latter. And the purpose of their meeting here was probably the former.

Many politically sensitive people were wondering, is this a divisive move? Academy City openly supports the separation of the local areas from the federal government?

To be honest, this is not too far-fetched, considering the military strength of Academy City. Historically, the Southern United States declared its independence from the United States due to institutional issues and established the Confederate States of America, although the Civil War was eventually resolved.

Moreover, the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit local independence (nor does it approve of secession from the federal government). From this perspective, it is a gray area and not strictly illegal. Therefore, every year there are local political parties and organizations clamoring for independence, especially during elections, which is considered a political show.

However, according to the Constitution, a state must first obtain the support of the majority of its own people before convening a meeting of representatives from other states. The independence amendment can only be passed with the consent of 2/3 of the representatives from other states attending the meeting. Even after the amendment is passed, it will be sent to the legislatures of the 50 states and must be approved by at least 38 states before it can be adopted. The adopted independence amendment still needs to be approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

'Legal independence' can be said to be unrealistic, and the only remaining path is armed independence.

"Everyone, I need to solemnly state that we in Academy City have no intention of interfering in your internal affairs. We are only here to provide necessary assistance to the disaster relief and support the local state government."

Walter's glasses reflected the light, hiding his eyes behind the lenses.

At the same time, the newly released images of the top-level meeting were also sent to states in the West.

Chapter 462 Crowley Frenzy

The people in the western part of America are in unrest.

Leaving aside the lower class people who were completely deceived and didn't know the truth, these magicians who were no different from unscrupulous politicians were suddenly tempted.

Just like other magic families in the world, most of these American magicians are county governors, business owners, judges and other high-ranking figures in the real world, or at least lawyers, doctors and other decent employees. Of course, since most of these magicians have poor qualifications, unlike Europe, there are many who know the existence of magic but are almost ordinary people. Some of them do not have the conditions to support the study of magic, and even give up studying the family magic and completely return to the development of ordinary people.

Las Vegas.

Walter ended the video conference. Just now, nearly half of the magic families in America received information about the ridiculous behavior of their superior, the American Magic Department, and the subsequent "support" intention expressed by Academy City.

Walter exhaled lightly. He was only planting a seed in the hearts of the North Americans. It might not seem like a big deal now, but it would produce more obvious effects when the war was over.

This was a decision he made based on his "past memory of the American system" - the federal system is destined to lead to a power game between state governments/state rights factions and the federal government/federal factions, that is, a game of state government autonomy in military, diplomacy, legislation and other aspects. As long as facts are constantly used to hint at a favorable situation for the "state rights faction", the development of many things will naturally lead to a certain direction.

"...How's the situation over there?"

Then he turned and asked about the other person who was fighting with him.

"Don't worry, the subsequent intelligence gathering went quite smoothly," Otto's voice came from the other end. "The people on Capitol Hill never thought that inconspicuous bugs would become our means of surveillance, let alone waste magic power to drive them away. Hehe, they are still dreaming about the so-called second stage of the 'God-making' plan."

The intelligence obtained from the [City on the Mountain] was obtained by the biological-driven armor team dispatched by Otto.

"——But speaking of which, what should we do next with western North America? You're not really going to team up with those magicians to form an alliance, are you?" Otto said with a smile.

"Of course not." Since Walter proposed the strategy of dividing America, he naturally took into account the subsequent development. "After the war, the split between the West and the East will become a foregone conclusion, but those so-called magician families are not the ones we will really cooperate with."

The families that truly mingle in the magician society follow a set of 'magician traditions', which are the so-called traditional magician traits: theory of bloodline, aristocracy, treating mortals as worthless, and viewing children as assets... In a broad sense, they can be called people of the feudal era, except that magicians can completely trample on the ethics and morals of the feudal era.

In Walter's opinion, these big families that have penetrated into the magic society have been completely "alienated", and most of their members are incompatible with the concepts of Academy City. At present, they have chosen to negotiate with them temporarily in order to avoid indiscriminately hurting innocent people. What he needs are the young people and oppressed people who have just entered the society and have not yet been alienated.

The corruption of magicians cannot be reflected only in the decline of the magic system. The magician's thoughts and the entire society are full of corruption.

Therefore, magicians like Flatt, who are outliers or despised magicians, are often the targets of recruitment or commission by the East Union Association.

"——Therefore, this time, 'supporting' their independence will not only make it easier for us to weaken the resistance in North America, but also provide us with an opportunity to infiltrate North America. The real action is yet to come."

Otto understood immediately, "I see. After selecting the available people, the rest will naturally be liquidated. By then, there will be no need for the so-called Western Alliance, but rather the 'North American Academy City Branch'."

"Otto, I'm glad you understand," Walter said calmly, "Since I've made it clear in advance, you shouldn't associate with those who are destined to be on the death list."

"Look at what you said. Do I look like someone who doesn't know what's happening?...Okay, okay, it's really disappointing that you never believed in me from the beginning to the end."

Having said that, Otto was not surprised by Walter's cold attitude on the screen. Putting aside the "hostile identities" between the two in the past, after the establishment of the board of directors, based on the necessary understanding of each other, the chairman also gave each director the authority to view the "personal history" of his colleagues. In this way, even if they don't know Otto very well, they will not trust him from the bottom of their hearts.

But who is Otto?

He obviously would not be upset by such a thing. Except when facing the chairman, because in front of this person, he has no secrets at all - at least not like facing his colleagues, where he can hide some personal privacy that is not in the information.

But what made Otto feel even more depressed was the strange feeling he felt every time he saw the chairman. Even if he knew all his past and inner thoughts, it would not be so depressing. It would just make Otto annoyed or sad. What made him depressed was the strange feeling of the chairman from his body to his soul...

It's as if the other person has escaped from the normal scope of individual life and has become 'omnipresent'.

----------

The windowless building at the Academy City headquarters.

Based on the will of the main body, for a long time, Aleister needed to completely carry out an experiment, so he was completely immersed in the cabin, and communication with the outside world had to be completed with the help of a communicator.

The contents of the experiment are kept completely confidential. Aleister is both the experimenter and the executor, and will not disclose any information at will. At most, Mebius can make some guesses through indirect information.

The real content is very simple, and the core is just one: What will happen if you make a different choice from reality?

The answer is to differentiate possibilities. As long as you make a choice, possibilities will be generated. Different possibilities lead to completely different results.

Such examples are universal, from macroscopic to microscopic, from individual to world. For example, the quantum recording tape that records pan-human history records everything in the world every 100 years. The complex universe is divided into world lines with different development directions. The era we live in is actually the result of the collapse of the recorded universe (high dimension) determining the observed universe (reality).

We turn the world's perspective back to the individual. This is like Schrödinger's cat, in a closed box, the cat is in two states: a killed cat and a healthy cat, with multiple possibilities overlapping, until the moment the box is opened to observe the cat, the possibilities will collapse into the only reality.

All of this is nothing more than a deformation or extension of the microscopic quantum wave function.

And what about Aleister?

He is a side of Qin Xuan based on his "segmented thinking". This side can be him or someone else.

The possibilities of a person are infinite, so he is also infinite in theory. He can be a saint, a sinner, an old man, a child...

Gululu...