Debate Within the Royal Court

"Were all your previous mission reports written by Lilith?" Elysia asked Zhu Yufeng in a low voice.

"The subsequent mission reports were indeed written by Lilith. "Lilith Zhu Yufeng nodded. As for the very beginning, he didn't even dare to trust Lilith to write any mission reports.

As the Qingwu officer said, Zhu Yufeng and the others' mission was only to escort the Herrscher Core of the Fourth Herrscher to the Mu Continent. Nothing else was their concern. So after staying on the Mu Continent for a while, they returned to the Fire Moth.

At this moment, in the royal palace of the Mu Continent.

"Your Majesty, the Fire Moth must be warned; they have failed to perform their proper function when needed!" Kandela said to the King of the Mu Continent.

After a moment of silence, the king said, "... The fact that they were able to detect the signs of the Great Honkai in time means that, theoretically, they should indeed be held accountable to the Fire Moth."

Just as Kandela was about to say something more, the King continued, "However, the research direction of the Fire Moth is mainly focused on how to combat Honkai, analyzing the causes of Honkai and exploring the nature of Honkai. This is the same research direction as that of the Mu Continent and the Fire Moth. Currently, the Honkai Energy observation instruments that the Fire Moth possesses are all provided by the Mu Continent. Therefore, tracing back to the source, shouldn't we also hold those research institutes on the Mu Continent accountable?"

Kandela didn't care; he just wanted an answer, an explanation. But the others couldn't sit still. Immediately, a Scholar stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this Honkai is indeed strange. Before this Honkai, every Honkai involved the premature gathering of Honkai Energy. Although the speed of gathering varied, it was because of this that we were able to observe and predict the Honkai outbreak..."

The king glanced at him and then said, "Then according to you, why wasn't the accumulation of Honkai Energy observed this time, but instead Honkai out directly? Honkai Energy just accumulated in large quantities on the seabed out of thin air?"

"This..." The man was silent for a moment, seemingly choosing his words carefully.

At this moment, another Scholar said, "Your Majesty, based on our research on the Judgment-class Honkai Beast Ugar that is still wandering between the Earth and Moon orbits, the appearance of Varuna may be due to the same reason as the appearance of Ugar."

When Ugar appeared, there was no warning. In an instant, it destroyed the Visakha City and annihilated the army that was fighting against it. It caused the greatest casualties in the war between mankind and Honkai before the appearance of Varuna. To this day, it is still listed as the most dangerous Honkai Beast. Humans have always been highly vigilant about Ugar and have been monitoring all of Ugar actions. Any abnormal behavior of its will make the observers very nervous.

There's no way around it; the unknown is always terrifying. Although Ugar's ability has been confirmed as time-space reset, its principle remains a mystery. Many scientists have racked their brains but haven't been able to figure it out. On one hand, this ability is unprecedented, and on the other hand, there is too little information and data about Ugar. Even Ugar's two companion Emperor-class Honkai Beast, Rahu and Ketu, who were once defeated, did not show any ability related to time and space; they were simply high-level Honkai Energy.

The prevailing theory is that Ugar is Honkai Beast from a higher dimension. According to the footage retrieved in Visakha City, when Ugar appeared, the sky looked like it had shattered and a huge hole had appeared. However, neither the weather satellites nor the observation satellites detected anything unusual in the sky above Visakha City that day.

The higher dimensions are a realm that humans cannot yet reach, so it's not unusual for the Honkai Beast that emerge from them to have abilities that are somewhat incomprehensible yet can be explained by the workings of higher dimensions.

"So you mean that Varuna also possesses the same abilities as Ugar?" The king looked at the Scholar who had spoken.

"From what we can see, it is far weaker than the Ugar," the Scholar said somewhat awkwardly. "Based on current information, the sinking of Atlantis was entirely due to the sheer size of Varuna, which caused it to crash into and sink directly."

"Large in size? Just how big is it?" the king asked.

"At least the size of the inner city of Atlantis," the Scholar replied.

"Then what does this have to do with higher dimensions?" the king asked again.

The Scholar paused for a moment, then gave an uncertain answer, "Perhaps it was summoned by Ugar's special ability to open a spacetime rift?"

A Honkai Beast lingering in the Earth-Moon orbit. "???"

"Can you convince yourself with this reason? If Ugar had that ability, wouldn't the world be in Honkai by now?" the king sneered. "Alright, you can analyze the relationship between Ugar and Varuna later. By the way, increase the funds allocated to the Fire Moth. Also, increase the frequency of exchanges between the Mu Continent and the Fire Moth regarding Honkai research, and share research progress with the Fire Moth."

"Your Majesty," someone else stepped forward and said, "the Fire Moth done almost nothing in this Atlantis Honkai incident. Their soldiers even knocked out Mayor Kandela. How can we continue to tolerate them like this?"

Mentioning this, Kandela's face darkened immediately. That expressionless kid really hit people hard; he could still feel a slight pain in his eyes.

"That's what I said, do you have a problem with it?" the king said expressionlessly, looking at the man. "Furthermore, regarding your inaction in this matter... Lord Yitzhak, my subject, answer me, if you were in his shoes, what would you have done?"

"This..." Yzak choked, "Your Majesty, this is not my area of expertise. I simply believe they have failed to do what an organization dedicated to fighting Honkai should have done..."

"Why are you interfering in matters outside your area of expertise?" The king glanced coldly at Yzak. Did he not know what his minister was up to? Did he really think he, the king, was a useless bum wearing a crown? He had witnessed the power struggles between the Fire Moth Mu Continent, as well as the high-ranking officials of various countries around the world.

The Fire Moth is an organization formed by bringing together talents from all over the world to fight against the Honkai. However, the Honkai Energy involve too many aspects, and if the Fire Moth wants to do certain things, it will inevitably infringe on the rights of some people. Therefore, they will not allow the Fire Moth to become the only voice against the Honkai. The independent research on the Honkai by the Mu Continent and even the militaries of various countries around the world also stems from this. It's just that the Mu Continent and the Fire Moth are far ahead in terms of research progress.

The king had no objection to this, because he also believed that if only the Fire Moth remained to oppose the Honkai, would the Fire Moth abuse its power for personal gain?

Therefore, he tacitly approved of this behavior.

The Present, these people's accusations against the Fire Moth are completely fabricated and have no basis whatsoever. They are only trying to suppress the Fire Moth, which is not something the king wants to see.

A single Fire Moth cannot dominate, but its status must never be low either.

Ytzhak lowered his head, knowing that the king had seen through his intentions, so he could only say, "It was I who overstepped my bounds, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"A person should feel shame before striving harder. If you fail once in the battle against the Honkai, you should continue to train yourself and improve your abilities, instead of shifting the blame to others," the king said calmly. "Using something no one could have predicted to blame those who are working hard for it, why not first consider what results you have achieved? Research results don't fly out of the sky, and even a towering building needs building materials. Without funding, what do you want to research?"

After a pause, the king continued, "You keep saying he should, so why don't you give him what he should have? You want him to do what he's supposed to do? A well-trained soldier can easily kill a wild beast with a gun, but if a soldier with his bare hands gets eaten by a tiger, would you say he didn't do what he was supposed to do?"

Everyone else remained silent. When Kandela saw that the king had no intention of holding anyone accountable, he became anxious. However, someone quickly covered his mouth and then said, "Your Majesty, I believe that Mayor Kandela also bears responsibility in this incident. I suggest that he be taken away first and thoroughly investigated after the incident is completely over."

If this stubborn, inflexible man keeps talking, His Majesty the King might grant Fire Moth more power. They tolerated Kandela's words to use him as a tool to reduce Fire Moth, the Present their goal has backfired, what's the point of having Kandela?

The king nodded slightly. "As you say."

And so Kandela was taken down.

Having resolved one matter, the king picked up a document, glanced at it, sighed softly, and then said, "The next matter is the verification of Dr. Mobius's status as a member of parliament."

"What?!" A Scholar immediately exclaimed, noticing everyone staring at him. Forgetting all formalities, he hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, Mobius absolutely cannot become a member of the Fire Moth. The Present she can continue her experiments at the First Research Institute is already more than lenient!"

"And the reason?" the king asked calmly. "If I remember correctly, Mobius was also one of the founding members of the Fire Moth, wasn't she? In terms of both seniority and ability, she is more than qualified, isn't she?"

"But Your Majesty, what she's researching is anti-human!" another Scholar exclaimed. "She absolutely cannot become the ruler; she will only lead humanity into the abyss!"

Most of the other non- Scholar subjects watched the Scholar's intense reaction with indifference. The power struggle within the Fire Moth was none of their concern. As for whether Mobius's research was anti-human, weren't these academic matters decided by the Scholar themselves? Besides, some of them had recently come into contact with a guy who called himself the Gray Serpent ...

"I don't think it matters. Aren't there other councilors?" someone spoke up. "Does Mobius think she can rule the entire Fire Moth? Everyone on the board knows how unpopular she is, doesn't she? This incident shows that our research Honkai the Present is not yet complete. Although Dr. Mobius's ideas are somewhat Honkai, they are not a bad approach. To defeat Honkai, we can't always rely on one path. Like this incident, we have been overly reliant on our ability to predict Honkai, and our direct armed response is still somewhat lacking. So why should we stop the development of another path to fight Honkai?"

"Do you know what you're saying? Do you know what Mobius is researching?" An old Scholar pointed at the speaker and angrily rebuked him. "Can't you people in high positions see what Mobius is challenging? To modify humanity, to make humanity adapt to the Honkai. Can those who are transformed after that still be called human?"

"Don't define 'human' too rigidly, do you?" The person shrugged. "If Honkai is a kind of self-destructive mechanism, then survival of the fittest and extinction of the unfit is also an unchanging law of nature. If humanity still cannot overcome the power of nature, coexisting with it is also a solution, isn't it?"

"Beifengge!" the old Scholar called out the man's name. "Do you also intend to become a traitor to humanity?"

"That's quite a label," Beifengge said, picking at his ear with an indifferent expression. "Traitor to humanity? Dr. Leiden, aren't you speaking a bit too soon? Did Dr. Mobius betray humanity to the Honkai, or does he want to destroy humanity? Isn't everything we've done to fight the Honkai? Blindly believing you're right is a bit too conservative, isn't it? How many ancient nations in history have perished in this way?"

"You..." Dr. Leiden pointed at Beifengge, as if he had realized something, and said angrily, "I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it, Mobius Curie has also started to have designs on this place. What benefits did she give you that make you so unreasonable?"

"Sigh." Beifengge sighed and said, "Look, just a few words in defense of Dr. Mobius have been turned into sophistry and into accepting bribes. Since you say so, then His Majesty the King can inspect all my property to see if I have taken anything from somewhere. If not, I will not tolerate your slander."

"Why did that old man have to debate with Beifengge all people?" the others whispered among themselves.

Others have witnessed firsthand how eloquent Beifengge is, and the key is that he always manages to present his arguments logically and with evidence. He can also speak fluently about professional knowledge, and he genuinely reads numerous research papers—a true polymath. Unfortunately, he's not a scientist; his main fields of study are philosophy and law...

Seeing the old Scholar humiliated, other Scholar joined the fray to refute Beifengge. Beifengge then engaged in a verbal battle with the assembled Scholar, leaving them all speechless.

Seeing that the results were almost complete, the King finally spoke and made a final decision, "Since you have no way to refute Lord Beifengge's words, then this matter ends here. The proposal to make Dr. Mobius a member of the Fire Moth is hereby passed."