President Harrison's family has been in politics for generations, and has produced three presidents. The first president took office in the early days of the establishment of the Union. At that time, the situation was chaotic, and his term of office was only four years, and he was persecuted by hostile politicians; the second president had the longest term of office, and quelled the Sentinel Rebellion 200 years ago. He was Harrison's great-grandfather. This president is also one of the presidents with the best evaluation and high approval rating, and his term of office lasted for 16 years.
Harrison became president eight years ago. Federal presidential elections are held every four years, and he has been re-elected twice.
His great-grandfather was re-elected four times. If Harrison wants to emulate his great-grandfather and also be re-elected four times, he must defeat his strongest opponent in this year's general election, Mike Bartlett, an S-level sentinel from another political party.
Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan did not understand the game between these politicians, and knew even less about the powerful competitor.
All they knew was that during President Harrison's eight years in office, the Federation was peaceful and stable, the President frequently visited remote galaxies to help ordinary humans who had not evolved, and during his term, the employment rate and fertility rate of ordinary people increased significantly.
However, since ordinary humans have not evolved any super powers and belong to the "bottom" of society, their votes will ultimately be counted according to a 10% ratio. In other words, out of 1 million votes from ordinary people, only 100,000 will ultimately be counted.
This is the rule that has been set since the establishment of the Federation. Therefore, during the presidential election, the key is to win the votes of the Evolvers.
Harrison's presidential contender was a sentinel.
Among the Evolvers, Guides account for less than 5%, while Sentinels account for 25%. Since a large number of Sentinels have joined the army, the four major corps are the base camps of the Sentinels. If the competitor Mike Bartlett pulls too many votes from the Sentinels, it will be quite disadvantageous for Harrison's next re-election.
Perhaps this is exactly his motivation for joining forces with the Dark Night Organization and controlling high-level Sentinels
As long as he controls the four major legions and gets the Sentinels to vote for him in this year's election, he will surely win.
Yu Ran looked at the old man in front of him with a gentle smile and said, "You are meeting us in person. Is there any important task you need to instruct us on?"
President Harrison asked, "Professor Movi, you should have met him, right?"
Yu Ran nodded: "Yes, I saw it on planet B73."
Harrison asked, "Did he ever tell you about his great plan to renew the human race?"
A grand plan for upgrading? You guys are really good at flattering yourself.
Yu Ran sneered in his heart, but said calmly on the surface: "The professor mentioned something about the Sentinel experiment. However, I am not a scientific researcher, and I don't know much about drug experiments. I only know that those Sentinels that are prone to frenzy are a burden to human society."
Harrison pointed to his head and said with a smile, "That's right. For humans, the evolution of limbs is not important. The brain is the key, and the Guide is the perfect evolver. Our mental communication is efficient and fast, and our thinking ability and memory are excellent. This is also the advantage that distinguishes humans from lower creatures. As for combat effectiveness, I believe that humans can completely replace those sentinels with well-developed limbs with high-tech weapons."
Yu Ran agreed and said, "Yes. What's the point of evolving your physical fitness to the extreme? If you fire a cannon at him, he will still be killed."
This sentence made President Harrison narrow his eyes: "You are really... an interesting star pirate."
Yu Ran smiled brightly: "Thank you for the compliment, President."
Harrison said, "I won't keep you in suspense. At present, the Federal Central Academy of Sciences absolutely supports me. There are also people who have infiltrated the top management of the Guide Association, but it is not so easy to persuade the president. Among the four major legions, the Sun Legion stands on my side. Now, the Falcon Legion is also under our control."
He paused, then continued, "In the second half of the year, I will start touring and canvass for votes. The current support cannot guarantee my victory in the next general election. Therefore, it is best to win the votes of another legion of sentinels."
Sure enough, in order to be re-elected in the presidential election, he supported the "scientific research plan" of the Dark Night Organization and controlled the Sentinels to become their puppets.
Lu Tingyu of the Falcon Legion "sacrificed", and the new legion commander Lu Zexuan has been "controlled". If Lu Zexuan cast the first vote for President Harrison, most of the other soldiers of the Falcon Legion would follow suit and vote for President Harrison together.
The Sun Legion is already on their side, so as for the remaining Snow Leopard Legion and Star Legion, as long as he can win over the votes of the sentinels on the military side, he can kill his opponent in seconds with a ratio of 3:1.
The number of sentinels was several times greater than that of guides, so Harrison would be assured of re-election.
Yu Ran asked curiously, "Do you want to win over the Snow Leopard Army or the Star Army?"
Harrison said, "The Snow Leopard Corps is stationed in the remote Ophiuchus constellation. The corps commander is self-willed and unsympathetic. He didn't even attend General Lu's funeral. It's too difficult to control him at their garrison. On the other hand, General Xie of the Starlight Corps is young and energetic. He has only been the corps commander for five and a half years and is currently in the capital star."
Yu Ran's heart tightened slightly: "You want to get rid of her?"
Harrison shook his head and said, "That's not necessary. In this generation of the Xie family, there is only one S-level sentinel left, Xie Chen. If we get rid of her, the Xinghui Army will be leaderless and will definitely be in turmoil, which is not conducive to our control of the situation."
Yu Ran followed his words and said, "So, it's better to control General Xie like we controlled Lu Zexuan. Let her listen to us?"
Harrison smiled slightly: "You are very smart, no wonder Mo Wei likes you so much and wants to take you as his last disciple."
Yu Ran glanced at Lu Zexuan, who was expressionless beside him, and said, "Why not let me take charge of controlling General Xie? After all, I have experience controlling an S-class sentinel... However, I don't know her at all, so it's difficult for me to get close to her and slowly feed her the medicine."
Harrison said, "That's not a problem. Professor Mo Wei has improved the formula of the medicine. There's no need to increase the dosage slowly like before. This time, just one pill is needed. Dissolve it in water and let her drink it. She will go berserk immediately. Before she goes berserk completely, destroying her mental image and capturing her spiritual body will still be able to control her."
Yu Ran: “…”
One pill caused the sentinel to go berserk instantly. The research they conducted was simply unscrupulous.
Thinking that his aunt had already been targeted by them, Yu Ran's heart tightened, and he quickly agreed: "Okay, let me take care of the task of controlling General Xie. But she doesn't know me, so she can't drink the water I hand her. Who will do the drugging?"
Harrison said, "She has our people with her. I will arrange this myself. You go back and wait for my news."
The president waved his hand, and Rong Yingying came over and gave Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan two anesthetics, making them fall asleep again.
***
When they woke up, they were in a familiar hovercraft heading towards the White Tower.
The two said goodbye to Rong Yingying at the entrance of the White Pagoda and returned to the dormitory side by side.
Yu Ran asked in his mind: "Are there any doubts?"
Lu Zexuan said, "I have carefully observed this president. The president I saw at the funeral that day had a left ring finger that was 1 cm shorter than his index finger. The president I saw today had a left ring finger and index finger that were 0.5 cm shorter than each other."
The sentinel's keen vision was more accurate than a measuring tape. The tiny gap of 0.5 cm between fingers, a flaw that most people could not see with the naked eye, was visible to Lu Zexuan.
People who meet the president will not deliberately observe his fingers. After all, everyone's hands are different. It is normal for the ring finger to be longer or shorter than the index finger. But Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran will not miss any details.
It was this insignificant difference in details that made them realize that something was wrong.
Yu Ran frowned and said, "It's impossible for his fingers to suddenly grow 0.5 cm in just one week. The president we saw at the funeral that day and the President Harrison we saw today are not the same person."
Lu Zexuan asked in confusion: "So, there are two presidents, one real and one fake?"
Yu Ran initially believed that President Harrison and Professor Mo Wei had joined forces, and that if the president wanted to be re-elected, he needed to get the votes of the Sentinels; Mo Wei was a crazy scientist who wanted to conduct experiments to control the Sentinels, so the two hit it off, and through the covert planning of the Dark Night Organization, they won over the Sun Legion, controlled the Falcon Legion, and were about to attack the Star Legion.
The president provided Mo Wei with the environment and authority to continue his scientific research, and Mo Wei helped the president develop drugs to control the sentinels. At the same time, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Adeline and others, were also promised a lot of benefits by the president, and gathered in the Dark Night Organization to follow his orders.
It all seemed reasonable, and the logic chain was very clear and complete. If they had not been cautious enough, they would have almost believed this most reasonable inference.
Now, after careful observation and scrutiny, the two have found a number of suspicious points.
First, in the eyes of outsiders, Mo Wei has always been a healing guide whose spiritual body is a dolphin. However, that day at the B73 base, when he suddenly tested Yu Ran, he displayed a powerful S attack power.
Second, President Harrison has two people. The one seen at the funeral is not the same as the one seen in the Dark Night Organization today. Although they look exactly the same, the tiny difference in their fingers was still seen through by Lu Zexuan's sharp eyes.
There are two possibilities. First, the president has a double who looks exactly like him and performs dangerous tasks for him. After all, it is often inconvenient for the president to show up, so having a double makes sense.
The second possibility is that this president is fake and is a pawn controlled by the Dark Night Organization.
If this is the case, then Professor Mo Wei, whom we met at the B73 base at that time, was probably also fake.
Yu Ran said in his mind: "Even with the most advanced plastic surgery technology, it is impossible to make the height, body shape, and even voice the same. If you hadn't observed these details, 99% of people would not be able to tell whether President Harrison is real or fake."
Lu Zexuan asked: "Could it be, a genuine camouflage ability?"
Yu Ran frantically searched for information in his mind.
Sentinels' camouflage abilities are mostly spiritual forms such as chameleons and anole lizards, which can blend into the surrounding environment. For example, Tang Ce can change into the same color as the ceiling, making it impossible for people to detect him. This type of invisible sentinel cannot completely change his appearance or even his voice.
The guide's camouflage ability, like the spiritual body orchid mantis, seven-spotted ladybug, and Yu Ran's nine-tailed fox, can eliminate its own presence through the mental barrier, making it impossible for people to detect it.
The guide can also use temporary mental hints to make people mistakenly think that they are someone else. For example, Yu Ran can hint to Lu Zexuan "I am Lu Chengan" right now, and then Lu Zexuan will recognize him as his brother.
However, this kind of mental suggestion only lasts for a very short time, and it can only be used when the other party's mental strength is lower than yours. If the other party is of the same or higher level, the suggestion will be ineffective.
The president was able to appear for a long time and talk to Yu Ran fluently, and Yu Ran did not suffer any mental attacks...
This is obviously not a simple mental suggestion, but a perfect "camouflage" ability.
A spiritual being that can disguise itself perfectly...
Yu Ran returned to the memory world sealed at the bottom of the lake, and vaguely felt that there seemed to be some answers there.
Before he was 13, he was not old enough to study in the sanctuary. His parents were busy with work, so Yu Ran stayed in his father's study to read. Professor Qin Luo loved reading. There were thousands of books in his study, covering astronomy, geography, history, philosophy, and biotechnology, covering a wide range of knowledge.
Yu Ran has been extremely intelligent and has an excellent memory since he was young. He read hundreds of books from his father's collection when he was young, and he still remembers the contents to this day.
However, one memory seems to have become blurred inexplicably.
What was it? What had he seen? It seemed to be a terrifying creature…
Yu Ran closed her eyes and recalled carefully.
In the mental picture, thoughts surged in the memory palace at the bottom of the lake, and many messy memory fragments were turned up. He traveled quickly in the memory world. Suddenly, he seemed to have caught something, and familiar fragments flashed through his mind.
"Ranran, what are you looking at?"
"Dad, the spiritual beings described in this book are very interesting."
"This is the book I locked up. How did you open it?"
"I saw you input the password that day, and I memorized the eight digits. Why is this book locked up?"
"The spiritual entities recorded here are all species that have become extinct during the process of human evolution."
“Extinct?”
"Yes, it hasn't appeared since more than 200 years ago."
"So the octopus is gone? But I clearly saw in the TV show that some sentinels and guides' spirits were octopuses!"
"That's different. The normal octopus still exists, but the one you see is a mimic octopus, a very cunning sea creature."
—Mimic octopus.
Marine creatures with extremely many tentacles became extinct many years ago.
It has tens of thousands of color bags on its body, which can change shape and color at will. It is the top camouflage master in nature.
(End of this chapter)