I Really Didn't Mean To Be The Saviour Of The World

Chapter 1022: Chapter 628: The Indulgence of the Soul, A Painful Lesson_2

As for the lower-ranking Second and Third Generation fleet members, despite what they might say, when given the choice, these relatively less educated people with limited access to information and knowledge would inevitably make more self-serving choices – to retreat.

When the middle and upper classes discovered that most of the lower class people chose to retreat, their hearts were inevitably affected and shaken, causing them to change their minds and influence more and more people of their social class, ultimately resulting in the current uncontrollable situation.

…

The chaos continued and worsened.

Anyone who had signed up to join the Free Will Vertical Team Fleet, regardless of their previous job, had become shipbuilding engineers.

The Prometheus Project had been severely impacted, and fleet training, education, production and other sectors had come to a standstill. Scientific development had completely stalled, let alone producing new achievements, even digesting the data packs sent by the Empire had become “indigestible.”

Aphelios went to consult with Dylan Mitchell, and the two decided to convene another high-level meeting of the Free Will Alliance.

At this meeting, Aphelios and Dylan Mitchell jointly proposed to try to control the situation somewhat and see if they could retain more people. Unexpectedly, their proposal was immediately rejected.

Many people in the top leadership of the Free Will Alliance had already changed their minds.

The real chaos appeared half a year later when the first ultra-large interstellar ship was completed.

Some people proposed leaving early on the ship, turning the focused retreat into a process of leaving on each ship as they were built. As for the boarding order, it would be based on the contribution of Free Will Alliance members from top to bottom.

Some people opposed changing the plan, reasoning that doing so would increase the risk of exposing the fleet prematurely for each ship that left.

Some people agreed, arguing that there might be a large-scale battle in less than five years, so leaving now might save more people.

Others questioned the evaluation system of contributions and felt that they should be the first to leave, doubting its fairness.

Others held some real power and could slightly adjust the contributions of some lower-ranking personnel.

New classes were born.

In the midst of endless controversy, the operational system of the Free Will Alliance quietly changed, and the highest level became a parliamentary system.

…

No matter what, the Cage family and Dylan Mitchell remained in control, and all three firmly opposed changing the plan.

Having more than 80% of people leave after five years was unacceptable, let alone starting a scattered retreat now.

However, the situation developed further, and one day, Dylan Mitchell, claiming he hadn’t been in cryosleep but faking it before, went back into cryosleep to prolong his life.

Although Dylan Mitchell entrusted his leader voting rights to Aphelios, allowing Aphelios to have a veto power, the Cages still seemed to be struggling when attending meetings, barely holding on.

As the Cage family used their veto repeatedly to block changes, they eventually caused great dissatisfaction both inside and outside the council.

Three months later, Aphelios was assassinated.

The murderer was a Third Generation male warrior from the lower ranks.

After killing Aphelios, the warrior committed suicide, shouting “For freedom” as his dying slogan.

This was not the first homicide case in the fleet’s 200-year history, but the victim was the highest-ranking individual in fleet history.

The ship’s AI only took a moment to find out that the killer’s wife and three children were all senior Free Will Alliance members, and their contribution evaluations had already reached the standards of the first group of boarders.

In the end, the warrior’s wife and children were not implicated and were released without charges.

The warrior did indeed act on his own.

Whether the person acted out of selfishness or for some so-called noble ideal, there was no need to investigate further.

The loss of his beloved son, combined with years of mental stress and indescribable guilt, finally broke Solent Cage’s will. General Cage’s mental state became unstable and was temporarily frozen by the fleet AI, classified as a patient in need of psychological intervention.

However, the fleet’s mental health counseling position also had problems now.

The older generation of First Generation counselors had died one after another, with few remaining.

Most of the remaining First Generation were in cryogenic state, with little time left.

Psychological counselors among the Second and Third Generations, who were already unstable factors, could not take on the heavy responsibility of counseling and intervening with high-level figures like Solent. Instead, sedatives were given to Cage to keep him somewhat calm.

Some people proposed whether Solent Cage should be forcibly frozen, but after a brief assessment, it was found that the mentally chaotic General Cage could no longer self-train a complete intuitive personality, making cryofreezing unachievable.

The situation was far worse than that. According to the previous constitution of the Free Will Alliance, after Aphelios’s death, his and Dylan Mitchell’s leadership voting rights would be automatically exercised by Solent Cage, but now Cage was incapable of doing so.

The three most critical voting rights had become invalid.

If it were the predefined management system within the AI’s core, such a situation would never have occurred.

However, the Free Will Alliance was originally an unhealthy, private system operating outside of the AI’s control, and no one could arbitrate.

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