Lord of Arcane

Chapter 3258 The Illuminati Conspiracy
“Let the operation and maintenance team issue an announcement to explain the pause some users experienced yesterday, and then give all users one day’s worth of advanced feature experience compensation.”

"Should we send it to all users?" Christa hesitated.

There are currently three main specifications for the advanced functions of the computing power pool. The highest level is called the Supreme Mode, which charges 500 gold coins per hour, but there is a limit. Only at the unanimous request of many high-level mages was it opened to 500 places.

The one-day compensation that Xia Duo mentioned is definitely not this. The remaining two slightly inferior specifications are [Enhanced Mode] and [Professional Mode]. The cheapest [Enhanced Mode] costs 100 gold coins per hour.

Based on the current total number of users in the computing power pool of over 1, even if each user is only compensated for one day of usage time for the cheapest [Enhanced Mode], this subsidy is equivalent to throwing out 3.6 million!
This is no small amount. Although the computing power pool has a strong ability to make money, the subsidies and hardware costs are also very high. Add to that the share given to various countries and alliances, and there is actually not much money left for the Lingsi Network Research Center.

This requires a one-time expenditure of 3.6 million, which can certainly be shared by other countries and alliances, but it will eventually be included in the operating costs, which will leave the Lingsi Network Research Center with even less money in the end.

A considerable portion of the surplus money at the research center is used to support the research of researchers such as Christa. In other words, if the money earned is less, the research center will become tight.

It is impossible for the alliance countries to allow Shado to convert all the costs of the research center into operating costs, and he himself certainly cannot privately pay for the salaries of researchers such as Christa or provide research funds.

Therefore, as soon as Xia Duo proposed this compensation plan, Christa began to oppose it subconsciously. However, due to Xia Duo's authority in the research center, he did not say it directly, but it was also quite obvious.

In this regard, Xia Duo could only appease the people with kind words, "At present, the capital flow in the research center's account is very sufficient, and giving some compensation is not a big deal. It is better than rumors flying around and affecting the access of new users to the computing power pool!"

"Then after?"

"We will also provide subsidies to users when we encounter such incidents in the future. We must know that every gold coin we use now comes from users, and it is our responsibility and obligation to protect users."

At this point, Xia Duo's tone slowed down again, "I know what you are worried about. Don't worry, I will definitely make maintaining the computing power pool my top priority. If the computing power pool is gone, everything will be meaningless.

“It is still the early stages of the hashrate pool’s development, and we need to reserve a certain amount of funds to deal with unexpected situations like now. When the situation stabilizes, I will increase funding for the research team.”

After Shado said so, what else could Christa say? Fortunately, he heard everything he wanted to hear, so he quickly found an excuse to leave.

……

After Christa left, Xia Duo wandered around the gateway control hall for a while before returning to his office. As for the research group, he believed that Christa should convey the message to them, so there was no need for him to go there now.

In order to prevent the elves from thinking that he was suppressing them on purpose, he was most concerned about the operation status of the computing power pool. After making sure that there was no problem for the time being, he returned to the office and waited to be summoned by representatives from various countries.

But he was not just waiting there. Although he had made copies of the consciousness of those Illuminati captives, this was not equivalent to interrogation. They still needed to go through an analysis process before the interrogation was completed.

Taking advantage of the break before the meeting with representatives from various countries, Shado wanted to see why Hippocrates chose to join the Illuminati. He really couldn't figure it out.

Because in his impression, Hippocrates was not a prophet, nor was he a demon. So why would he betray the more powerful alliance and choose the Illuminati, which hid in the dark like a rat?

With such doubts, Shado turned back to his original consciousness, took out the first copy of Hippocrates' consciousness, and spent nearly a day making the copy of consciousness, mainly making a copy of Hippocrates' consciousness.

After all, he was the only high-level wizard among all those Illuminati captives, and the other elves could be interrogated using methods other than analyzing consciousness.

Of course, to be on the safe side, he made at least one copy of the consciousness of all the captives.

Among them, Hippocrates, as a high-level wizard, is almost impossible to get anything out of him by conventional means unless he is willing. And another point is that if a high-level wizard wants to commit suicide, it is almost impossible for outsiders to stop him.

This was also the main reason why Xia Duo judged that the other party might be willing to surrender when he saw that the war mage he summoned actually captured a high-level mage alive.

Since he is not dead, he definitely does not want to die. He has been captured as a member of the Illuminati. If he wants to survive, the only way is to cooperate with the Alliance and sell the Illuminati for a good price.

But to be on the safe side, Shado still made a large number of copies of Hippocrates' consciousness, just in case this guy was captured alive by accident, or was just pretending to surrender but actually wanted to capture him.

These are all things to consider.

Therefore, Xia Duo has always had a principle, which is to never give high-level mage captives a chance to speak, unless it is a consciousness copy. If you want to ask something from the high-level mage captives, never expect them to speak on their own initiative. It is more refreshing to directly brute force the consciousness copy.

……

Now, facing the first copy of Hippocrates' consciousness, Shado was not in a hurry to break it up and analyze it immediately. After all, he had to meet the alliance representatives later and did not have much time.

It would be better to meet the other party in the consciousness cage illusion. Even if it is a preliminary review, if the preliminary review has no result, it will not affect the subsequent brute force cracking of this consciousness copy.

In fact, if he could just ask for what he wanted, Xia Duo would not bother to crack his consciousness. Not only would it be time-consuming and laborious, but there was also the risk of polluting his own consciousness.

The prison of consciousness.

Shado shaped this place into the appearance of the alliance camp outside the foggy area in Sluvend, where he and Hippocrates first met.

At that time, Hippocrates went there as an investigator from Yeerlan to participate in the joint investigation. But now it seems that Hippocrates was more likely to be a spy of the Illuminati to gather information.

But no matter what, Shado still has some friendship with the other party. Although it is not much, he is not like most of the high mages of Yerlan and the great arcanists of Netheril, who have a cold face when they meet.

After the environment was ready, Shado woke up the protagonist. Hippocrates had just regained consciousness, and his first reaction was to look around. When he saw that it was the alliance camp he had been to before, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

At this time, as a director, Chateau directly entered the picture without any pretense and directly pointed out the other party's identity: "Hippocrates, long time no see!"