I Want Both!

"However, then, everyone can only work eight hours a day, and they must leave work when the virus time is over."

"...?"

"Also, um... I need to implant the virus into the Honkai Beast and the Death Soldier as well, so they can take over high-risk jobs from normal people... Oh, right, shouldn't I apologize to the families of those who became Death Soldier...?"

"It's just a game, it doesn't need to go this far..."

"Then, let's circulate electronic currency last, so that everyone can exchange it within the specified period."

"Electronic currency?" Prometheus tilted his head. "Just a heads up, this kind of thing is dangerous."

"It's okay, I'll enter the data myself."

"..."

Well, the chances of a Herrscher of Corruption successfully stealing something like this are really slim.

Moreover, Prometheus also realized that Alisa didn't actually care about social development at all; she just wanted everyone to have a 100% happiness level...

The most fatal thing is that this person can actually do it by force—mental viruses don't reason with you.

This game is starting to get interesting.

"What on earth is Alisa doing?"

The Herrscher of Domination looked at his own data, somewhat confused.

The Honkai Energy and Herrscher progress are steadily increasing, but why are the destruction and despair levels starting to decrease?

But the problem is, the first two will rise normally even if we ignore them...

"Alisa is a good girl, it's just that no one teaches her."

Rita looked at the data above and clearly guessed what was going on. She smiled as she massaged Liu Bai.

Upon hearing this, Sirin's expression darkened slightly—if she had been able to see the light in the Babylon Laboratory back then, would she have had to go through all those things?

To put it bluntly, if someone had genuinely treated her well back then, instead of being a hypocrite, she would have accepted being used as a guinea pig.

No, she would even accept a hypocrite, as long as she said "I'm sorry, Sirin" instead of "Can't hold on anymore, you useless thing," when she couldn't hold on any longer, she wouldn't have harbored such intense hatred back then.

Who doesn't lack personal education?

Which of these Herrscher present wasn't properly trained?

Oh, no, this guy's a complete bastard...

"Sigh..." Sirin felt inexplicably sad and snuggled closer to Liu Bai like a kitten.

Rita looked at it and then patted Sirin's head.

Compared to the human side, which requires real-time monitoring, the Honkai side is really relaxed. The Honkai don't allow manual control; they can only watch the Herrscher they send out perform on the spot. Everyone can only play here.

"Speaking of which, I'll go next. I'm quite confident in handling internal affairs and such."

Rita ruffled Sirin's hair before withdrawing her hand.

"Rita, you're going? Wanzang, this isn't cheating, is it?"

"Whatever you say." Imaginary Archive looked indifferent. Rita's situation was a gray area, but for Prometheus and others, wasn't their father's gray area just white?

"How about I get you a Herrscher of Ice?" Liu Bai glanced at Anna, who was watching TV.

Anna naturally heard this and nodded repeatedly.

Go ahead, she's not very good at games either, so it would be great if someone could take her place.

"Okay." Rita nodded. "So, darling, you actually expected all of this?"

"I didn't expect it. I just thought Mei and the others wouldn't be able to handle the Herrscher of Corruption at this stage. As for what Alisa does... as long as she doesn't just get herself killed, my goal is achieved."

Liu Bai never expected that Alisa was involved in construction...

Human side

"...Construction?" Mei's lips twitched as she looked at the newly occurring event called "satellite imagery."

Even Mei didn't expect things to go this way.

"Hmm, things are getting interesting." Mobius had been watching the whole thing unfold. "Mei, how about using your political experience to take them down now?"

"..."

Damn it! No matter how human-like the Honkai's behavior may seem, its essence is still different!

"The effect of this event is a decrease in crisis level. It feels like diplomacy on the Honkai side will be activated soon..."

Mei had a rare headache.

The crisis level affects the degree of unity among civilizations and the effectiveness of command execution.

The Honkai has already demonstrated its power, and now it is showing a peaceful posture. There will probably be many countries willing to sit down and talk – of course, there will certainly be countries that see it as mere pretense and are wary.

This is really a trap.

"Continue the bombing and blockade all supplies until Alisa runs out of supplies."

This Honkai nation must be forcibly destroyed; otherwise, humanity may gradually split apart over time.

But the problems remain the same: the territory is being eroded, and there's no way to fill it with troops for an attack.

If we trade Aili for her, we won't be able to handle the next one.

She can only resort to inefficient attrition warfare; her goal is simply to dismantle the political system.

"Actually, having come this far, I think Mei, you're almost at your wit's end."

"There's still a chance. Valkyrie Technology is already conducting research on it." Mei pushed up her glasses.

Since Honkai Beast resources are currently limited, the only option left is to pursue the Valkyrie path.

"Then continue to recruit talent, make a name for yourself, don't worry about funding, Eden, you should also organize more celebrity events."

If we could find Otto or Elizabeth, we wouldn't need to research most of Schicksal's technologies anymore. But unfortunately, we can't find them, so we can only rely on Eden's screen time and advertisements.

Mei is willing to sell Elysia out to deal with Alisa, as long as her current strength can contend with combat-type Herrscher.

"Clear."

And that's how the two parties started operating.

In May of the first year, Bianka joined the Moth Chasers to Fire.

In June of the first year, Valkyrie technology research was successful, unlocking the first-generation combat suit.

In December of the first year, the Second Herrscher, Rita, the Herrscher of Ice, descended, destroyed a country, and then entered the Honkai Kingdom, Companion Honkai Beast died from a nuclear bomb.

In March of the following year, Honkai faith called the "Honkai Cult" appeared around the world, showcasing a heavenly life within the Honkai Kingdom, which sparked widespread public discussion.

In late March, the United Nations ordered a ban on Honkai 3rd, but with little effect.

In May of the following year, Wendy Herrscher of Wind, descended, destroyed three kingdoms, and entered the Honkai Kingdom. Subsequently, a storm blocked the world's sea routes.

In June of the following year, the isolation line fell, and half of Asia became a Honkai nation.

In July of the following year, Rita, the Herrscher of Ice, took the initiative to suggest "sitting down and talking"...

Chapter 591 I want both!

It's been sent.

Upon seeing the new development, Mei immediately resigned, as there was no point in continuing the game.

The best she can get is Bianka in her third-generation armor and Fusion Warrior, but Bianka's personal event is missing Rita, so it can't be carried out...

The most likely outcome of the negotiations is a split between the two factions. There's no other way; the Honkai has demonstrated sufficient strength and hasn't shown any intention to exterminate the entire population.

Moreover, the countries that were destroyed in previous Honkai were already in ruins, so giving them to the Honkai wouldn't hurt them much.

Even though many people still regard it as an enemy, no one wants to start a full-scale war with the Honkai in this world. They probably think that if they delay, there will be a turning point.

But I don't know for sure that's impossible.

She's waging a war of attrition against the Honkai, not to wear them Honkai, but to eliminate the lower classes and destroy the social structure of the Honkai kingdom through resource blockades and high-intensity bombardments, so as to prevent the Honkai from gaining too much popular support.

However, the result is already clear: it failed. The negotiations have reached the point where we need to sit down and negotiate. Even if a Cold War follows, it is impossible to continue the blockade of the Honkai nation, as the other side has already achieved self-sufficiency.

Even if she could still survive with the Valkyrie Armor, it wouldn't matter.

The fourth generation, or even the hypothetical fifth generation, would be meaningless; the war against Honkai is simply a matter of time.

In short, if humanity wants to win, they need to quickly defeat the Herrscher and accumulate enough trump cards to Finality.

The Herrscher is someone who obstructs humanity, cripples humanity, and then the Herrscher of Finality comes out to clean up the mess.

Other winning strategies are somewhat unrealistic.

Mei doesn't engage in a war of attrition because she can start a war at any time. She can accumulate enough cards, use Elysia to exchange for Alisa, and then engage in a king-on-king vs. general-on-general battle to take down the other existing Herrscher in one fell swoop. The time wasted is not a waste, but a setup.

After the negotiations, the Moth Chasers to Fire no longer has the right to wage war.

If they want to continue fighting, there are only two options: one, to brutally massacre the upper echelons and end negotiations, but given the current global opinion, doing so would be tantamount to cutting themselves off from humanity.

Second, take a gamble and directly eliminate Alisa, then bet that your current combat strength is enough to take down both Rita and Wendy, the two Herrscher.

By the way, a big reason why Mei hasn't accumulated enough cards is that many high-level Honkai Beast don't go out. Well, they're just staying at home being used as high-level tool beasts to shine. The only one that's really dead is Rita's Companion Honkai Beast, which makes it impossible to replenish the Fusion Warrior.

The Valkyrie Armor is only in its third generation and cannot be mass-produced. Even if the Stigmata Project is implemented and the suitability issue is resolved, it is still unreliable.

Mei's judgment was that there was no need to gamble.

Even if the bet succeeded, half of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers be dead, and there would be no point in continuing the game. Besides, it's just a game, there's no need to take it seriously, so Mei just admitted defeat.

"Well done, Alisa."

After emerging from the Stasis Pod, Mei did not hold back in praising Alisa.

Alisa's actions fully demonstrate how difficult a cunning Herrscher be. She was forced to her death largely because Alisa didn't play by the rules and took a path that almost no one had thought of.

Instead of betraying humanity, they turned all humans into the Honkai side, which is entirely in accordance with the rules.

"Thank you for the compliment..."

Alisa shrank back behind Liu Bai, not intending to take it to heart, but that didn't stop her from shrinking back, which made Alisa a little paranoid.

"Oh dear... really, if it had ended any later, Alisa might have become Queen."

Rita chuckled softly beside her. Rita had contributed greatly to the construction of Alisa's kingdom, but Rita was indeed surprised that the girl could handle the affairs of a country so well.

Perhaps I have actually found a very good maid successor.

"...As expected." Mei's lips twitched. "But it would be better not to let Alisa govern in the future."

"I second that." Rita nodded, understanding perfectly what Mei was saying.

This girl only wants to maximize happiness and doesn't care about anything else. From a civilizational point of view, there's nothing wrong with maximizing happiness. As long as you've advanced through technology and can maximize everyone's happiness, then your technology has probably reached its limit.

But the way this thing boosts happiness is wicked, using some kind of mental virus that's practically mind control...

In other words, Alisa was beaten into a cowardly personality. If she had her old personality combined with her current ways of playing, she would be a tyrant who completely controls civilization.

"And Otto, you bastard, you betrayed humanity." After Mei finished talking about Alisa, she turned to look at Otto with some displeasure—perhaps because she had settled her major life event, Mei was no longer so icy in front of others.

She knew perfectly well who was behind that Honkai Cult.

Otto seemed indifferent. Normally, she wouldn't switch sides, but Alisa broadened the gameplay by introducing the "Honkai Human" faction. She felt that Honkai brought hope to humanity, and that there was something wrong with choosing to be a dog of the Honkai Will.

Even if the rules don't say that humans can't switch Honkai and join the Honkai, the Lord God can't say she's neglecting her duties for personal reasons!

"It's more accurate to say that you're too slow. It's been two years, and you still haven't brought it under your control from the United Nations."

"... When it comes to fighting with people, who can beat you?"

Mei tried hard to suppress the urge to curse.

She is skilled in political maneuvering, but it depends on who she's compared to. In this respect, she would definitely crush Mobius, but she would also definitely be crushed by Otto.

Otto's Soul Steel Doll has proven that this man's political maneuvering has suffocated most of the world for over five hundred years.

They are all leaders who have not experienced the most devastating Honkai wars, so they are more adept at Honkai strategy. Just after a region has been cleared, another Emperor-class Herrscher will appear in ten days or half a month. In the early stages, there will be one Herrscher every one or two years, and in the later stages, there will be two Herrscher a year. And they are all genuine Herrscher without any deception. Just thinking about it is a headache.

Otto, on the other hand, is more adept at political maneuvering and manipulating people's hearts. Dealing with the Honkai is merely a means for Otto to achieve his goals. In addition, Otto has advantages in various aspects, including intelligence and time, so dealing with this relatively low-intensity Honkai is a piece of cake for him.