Chapter 411

Chapter 411: Voting

Vaughn’s ring flashed a few times, and the equipment in the arena was automatically taken over by the spaceship’s system. A robotic voice came through the speakers:

“Proposal submitted successfully, starting the vote.

“Participants of this proposal: Council member Matthew, Kande, Yang Suyan…”

The cold system read out nine names, which were the other nine present besides the involved party, Arthur, and the proposer, Vaughn.

In almost an instant, four votes in favor arrived. Looking around, the old folks had clearly taken a stand alongside Vaughn.

This was their final stand: either the proposal did not pass, resulting in their deaths and being held accountable, or they would kick the blonde out of the power structure. Even if it meant their own demise, they would leave an indelible stain on him.

Clearly, Arthur, as the party in question, did not have the right to vote on this proposal.

But another undeniable issue was that his actual authority surpassed everyone present.

This was thanks to a technician who had been dead for over fifty years; because of his earlier actions, the council members, who were always in a daze, could not achieve the top-level authority certification.

Arthur, however, did not want to use his veto power.

Some things have negative consequences once used, and this veto power was one of them.

He wanted to conduct a fair trial of these unfortunate souls precisely because of the need for procedural justice.

Thus, Arthur’s face did not show the exasperation the five old folks had imagined. At that moment, they wished for Arthur to completely tear off the mask, hoping he could kill one or two people in anger — this way, his true nature would be exposed to everyone in Hope City.

Of course, the premise of all this was that the one smeared with blame was not themselves.

The Speaker watched the five raised hands, then turned to the five inheritance faction council members who had been on the front lines since the speech began.

Clearly, whether the proposal passed or not was now in the hands of these five. As long as one of them chose to side with the five old folks, Arthur would have to use his trump card.

He looked at those five, with a smile in his eyes, as if encouraging them to find the courage to resist him.

Meanwhile, Kande, who had already raised his hand, began to justify a personal attack against Arthur and the other council members:

“You five fools, why don’t you pull him off the chair now? Do you want to wait until we’re dead to regret it?

“Right now, it’s our five; soon, it will be your turn!”

Kande’s words stirred the five inheritance faction council members a bit. Arthur’s trap had successfully ensnared the five unfortunate souls, making it hard for them to truly believe the promise made by the Speaker.

But if they really voted in favor, would they be killed on the spot by an enraged Arthur?

This was a genuine, powerful superpowered individual; only the mechanisms of the first team could barely contend with him.

Faced with a situation where one moment they were spectators and the next they had to make a decision, cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the five.

To everyone’s surprise, the first to clearly voice his stance was Zhong Ding.

He stood up from his seat and said with unusual seriousness:

“Mr. Speaker, no matter what your plans are afterwards, I stand by your side.”

With that, he activated the voting mode on his terminal and confirmed the “Oppose” option.

After completing this, he returned to his seat with a sense of relief, as if everything around him no longer concerned him.

To skillfully take a position in good times and boldly bet in tough times is truly the art of standing with a side.

And now was Zhong Ding’s moment to go all in; he sought nothing more than to survive and witness the future of humanity.

Now the ratio of votes for and against stood at four to one, and the remaining four felt the air around them grow warmer.

“Mr. Speaker, may I ask you a question?”

The usually reserved council member, Gao Xi, suddenly spoke up.

Arthur turned his gaze to this seemingly mature middle-aged male council member and nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“May I ask, if I or we oppose this proposal and stand by your side, what do we gain?”

This question hit the nail on the head and clearly reflected what the other three wavering members were thinking.

Nia, Bordeaux, and Sharma all looked at Arthur, who was lost in thought, waiting for his answer.

This was the time to show sincerity in the interest exchange, right? There was no need to be so aggressive anymore, was there?

Right?

… Right?

The more Arthur pondered, the tenser the four became.

A simple promise clearly shouldn’t take this long to contemplate, especially in such a Life and Death situation; every moment felt longer than ever.

The original podium had clearly transformed into a battleground for eleven people, while the hundreds in the audience below, along with the millions watching the live stream (yes, the live stream was still ongoing), could only watch in silence, their eyes and minds recording this contest of wits.

After a long pause, a voice came from the center of the hall stage.

It was a laugh, a scoff.

“Council member Gao Xi, actually, I quickly thought of the answer to your question, but what I can’t understand is how you could even ask such a question?”

It’s over!

Upon hearing this, Gao Xi had already sentenced himself in his heart.

It seemed that this Speaker wasn’t planning to compromise at all; this was a bit too ruthless.

Just a month ago, he was still testing their limits with a mixture of slaps and sweet dates, but now, in front of everyone in Hope City, it was just slap after slap without any pretense. Where were the sweet dates? Why were they missing?

Once Arthur began to speak, he showed no signs of stopping. He automatically overlooked the pale-faced Gao Xi and looked at the other wavering council members:

“Let me share the plan for today.

“After judging these five, they will have nothing to do with this place anymore.

“But for you five, there is another trial awaiting.”

“But you said there would be no further investigation…”

“Yes, I did say that, but I stand by my words: while your wrongdoings may not reach the level of theirs, they are not insignificant either.

“Some of your misdeeds still harm others today, and these must be accounted for.

“Perhaps sitting in a High Position for too long has made you forget certain things. Now, I can remind you that when you make mistakes, you must pay the price.”