淫欲的代价

High up on the podium, the Third Marshal, watched as Yang Xue calmly walked to the centre of the podium and stopped right in front of the chair next to the metal tube. He tsked. Now that the mandron was in the care of the Government, things were a little difficult.

The Government and the Twelve-army Coalition did not see eye to eye, always grappling for power behind the scenes. Both forces checkmated each other and although the people tended to favour the Twelve-army Coalition more, the Marshals of the Twelve-army Coalition weren\'t really united and the main forces of the Government were located inside the Major Planets and not on minor base Planets so it was easy for the Government to still stand on equal footing with them.

Besides, even if he managed to wrest the mandron out of the arms of the Government, it wouldn\'t last long as the other Eleven Marshals were all secretly keeping tight watch on the mandron due to the news of his genes.

News that his foolish son and daughter-in-law had thoughtlessly released! It still annoyed him that they\'d done so without consulting him first but he\'d been so busy that he hadn\'t had any time to reprimand them.

There was also another major issue at the moment and that was Yang Xue\'s absurd demand. Ding Wang and Xia Yueyu may be clueless but he was very much aware of what the mandron was demanding. It was all about the merits! The mandron wanted Ding Weimin to admit to the entire Federation that he\'d stolen the merit!

How could he, The Third Marshal of the Twelve-army Coalition, let a mere mandron bully his grandson into discrediting himself? Ha.

He would just wait for the government to discover that Yang Xue\'s genes were incapable of replication and then discard him. It would be easy to get the mandron without any hassle then.

The only downside of that plan would be the fact that the government would definitely discover the second Xor\'s Queen\'s magnetic energy in Yang Xue\'s body but... that might be easy to explain away using the fact that Yang Xue had been in the cave too and it was possible that his body had subconsciously absorbed the energy from the atmosphere in the cave.

The Third Marshal scoffed. In the end, a mandron was still a mandron. He only could make all this fuss without thinking deeply about the situation. Tsk.

The Second Marshal eyed the Third Marshal seated next to him and said with a humourless laughter, "It\'s still baffling that you managed to keep such a news from me."

The Third Marshal tapped his fingers against his armrest and said dismissively, "My hands were tied."

The Second Marshal scoffed inwardly. Cunning old man! But he didn\'t dare say anything out loud. This was because his time for retirement was closing in fast and he still needed the backing of the Third army if he wanted to keep control of the Second army in the Jin family.

The Third Marshal was not much better either but he had Ding Weimin. Without Ding Weimin to succeed him then.... The fate of the Ding family was not much different from his Jin family. That was why he was being careful so his Jin Qi doesn\'t get dragged down by the Ding family.

He Yuan finally took his seat on the chair and his eyes automatically zeroed in on Xia Yueyu, Jin Qi and Ding Wang. He smiled.

Jin Qi narrowed her eyes whilst Xia Yueyu and Ding Wang grit their teeth. They still managed to maintain their expression in front of the 360 cameras fitted in the hall. To others, Yang Xue\'s smile was harmless but they could clearly see that the mandron was mocking them!

At that moment, five scientists in pristine white lab coats walked into the stage. The head began, "Good day ladies and gentlemen. We are all clear on the reason for this conference so I would go straight to the point."

He clicked on his bracelet and a large 360 hologram appeared close to the centre of the podium several feet away from He Yuan\'s position. Showing in the hologram were various diagrams and experimental data, detailing all that had been found and also comparing the results to the ones provided by the Dings.

The head scientist explained the basics of the diagrams and the more he did, the brighter the eyes of everyone, especially the Eleven Marshals, became. Flashing before their eyes was an opportunity. An opportunity that opened up the doors of true galactical splendour. The many different stars that were yet to be explored due to the presence of the magnetic energy.

A solution to potential threats from unknown species and also... Oh also the possibility that this could somehow be utilized into a biological weapon!

At the end of the scientist\'s educational tirade, every single person was fired up. Even the reporters were itching to ask their questions. He smiled. "Now, the moment we have all been waiting for..."

He clicked on his bracelet and the metal tube beside He Yuan opened up to reveal a blue gaseous substance swirling in an adamantine glass. A lot of people sat up straighter in their seats and even He Yuan looked to the tube. He was very calm about this because this sort of test had already been carried out on Yang Xue years ago by the researchers under the Dings and a similar one had also been carried out three days ago.

"The demonstration," The head scientist continued with an intrigued smile. "That right there is raw magnetic energy siphoned directly from the axis around Planet Kil -which is one of the yet to be explored potential major Planets in the Plexar system. Now to sh-"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

At that moment, loud banging sounds came from the other side of the door of the conference venue. The eyes of everyone widened at the abruptness of the sound whilst Xia Yueyu exchanged a subtle glance with her husband.

888 frowned. [Something\'s up with the Ding parents.]

He Yuan\'s eyes narrowed but he remained calm and discreetly let out his needles between his fingers as he looked around the venue. The Twelve Marshals of the Plexar Federation were right on the podium with a couple of important figures too.

He didn\'t believe that no security precaution had been set up to protect these important personas in the event of an attack but he still looked around for the safest cover in case of a miscalculation.

At that moment, a group of officers under the P.R Institute uniformly surrounded the podium and the seats of the reporters were automatically adjusted a few meters backwards. Next, a magnetic force field was activated to cover the entire podium and a similar one, two grades lower, was activated to cover the area containing the reporters and the public section.

Earlier on, some executives from the P.R Institute had already turned their focus to their bracelets, as they exchanged correspondence with the security officers outside to know what was going on. The press conference was under the management of the Government and they would be held accountable for any accidents so they dared not slack off.

Two minutes later, Manager Liang finally received a report on what was going on. A deep frown settled on her face. Right outside the conference venue were thousands of people. Thousands! With flashing holograms and digital boards demanding that Yang Xue aided General Ding.

Just how did this happen? Just a day ago, these small time protesters weren\'t even up to a hundred so why was it that they suddenly become so many today?

Outside the hall....

"SAVE THE GENERAL!"

"WE WANT YANG XUE!"

"STAND BACK!"

A group of security officers and soldiers from the Twelve-army Coalition helplessly tried to keep the protesters at bay but with no success. As much as the issue infuriated them, they dared not use force in fear of breaking the law.

Knowing fully well that the soldiers and security officers would never harm protesters, the people began toppling over the soldiers to continue banging on the doors.

BANG!

"THE GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE ACTION!"

"WHERE ARE THE MARSHALS WHEN THEY ARE NEEDED?!\'

The Third Marshal watched the display through his bracelet in pleasant surprise. He a spotted a few employees who worked under his son in the crowd and that was when he realized this was Ding Wang\'s doing.

He had no idea what had been said to rile up the people this much but it was all for the best. If they were able to get Yang Xue to attend to Ding Weimin this way then that would save him weeks of plotting.

That son of his wasn\'t so useless after all...

After taking a quick glance around the hall, his eyes finally settled on Ding Wang. His son gave him a nervous smile but he soon looked away and activated the micro mic attached to his collar. Next, he cleared his throat.

This managed to catch the attention of everyone in the hall. He calmly said, "Seeing the current state of things, it would be difficult to continue the conference. Why don\'t we just invite their leaders in and hear what they want, hm?"

The other Marshals eyed the Third Marshal sideways. Wasn\'t it obvious what the people wanted? They were carrying holograms and portable digital projectors demanding for Yang Xue for crying out loud! Most them narrowed their eyes in suspicion.

After hearing the Third Marshal\'s words, Manager Liang turned to face He Yuan. The situation was a bit difficult. On one hand, they couldn\'t cut the conference short and leave because the entire building was surrounded by people and on the other hand, no one had any right to force Yang Xue against his will.

The Second Marshal impatiently turned to Manager Liang. "What are you waiting for? We don\'t have the time for this. Let them in and know what they want!" He also wanted to know the final outcome of this situation. After all, his alliance with the Dings depended heavily on Ding Weimin\'s wellbeing.

He Yuan merely placed his right hand on his left one holding his needles and relaxed back on his chair like none of the current events had anything to do with him.

Seeing this, Manager Liang had no choice but to send a message to the officers outside.

A minute later, the large door was opened up and about two hundred people rushed into the hall followed by a few helpless looking soldiers. All of the two hundred protesters had claimed that they were leaders of their own muster points so they had no choice but to let them in.

Anyways dealing with two hundred people was much better than dealing with over a thousand.

A few reporters slipped out of the force field and walked over to the back of the crowd of protesters. Even if they couldn\'t get back into the protection of the force field. They considered the scoop they would be able to get from the protesters highly worth it.

Manager Liang watched all this from the podium and turned a blind eye as she activated her mic and said, "Good day everyone, I\'ll get straight to the point and ask you what this is all about."

A single person finally stepped out. He was a slightly chubby human with a stubble on his chin and eye bags underneath his eyes. "We have come to demand justice on behalf of General Ding! The Twelve-army Coalition and the Government have remained silent all these while and we the people would not have it anymore!

-I urge all of you not to forget the reason the General is in this state in the first place! It was in order To protect his soldiers! To protect Us! To protect the Federation!

-It is absolutely ridiculous that the mandron is refusing to help out because of a grudge with the General\'s family members and if the Marshals and Government still refuse to do anything about this then we would not leave here today!"

The other protesters began chanting then, "WE WOULD EAT AND SLEEP HERE! NOT MOVING AN INCH UNTIL THE MANDRON AIDS THE GENERAL!"