Work Hard, Rest Hard

Although the priest had left ahead of them, his prophecy had not stopped there. Instead, it spread with increasing ferocity.

He had even specifically instructed them to wait for the final prophecy—to wait for the gods to bring down heavenly punishment upon the unjust land.

Everyone seemed to be waiting, waiting for the final prophecy to come true.

The cold light illuminating the snowy night swept over the crowd. In the curtain of snow, the confused soldiers and military police had no idea the others had arrived, and their response to the situation was slow. The gathered Infected also waited silently. Crisis brewed in the quiet, yet the surface of that crisis was eerily calm, deathly still, as if...

The calm before the storm.

It was so quiet that it was frightening.

At a time like this, playing Kenji Kawai's "Hallucination" would have been almost absurdly fitting.

Just as everyone held their breath, waiting for the order to be issued and for the moment of the final prophecy, a purple light gradually rose in the pitch-black sky.

"Look! Up there! On the horizon!"

The Infected were the first to react. With their backs to everyone else, they were the first to see the rising purple point of light.

The crowd instantly erupted, because the final prophecy had also come true.

The gods would ultimately punish unjust oppression.

Could it be that even the gods were reaching out to save the Infected?!

Seeing the crowd erupt, the military police were also affected to some degree. A few of them saw people pointing and shouting toward the area behind them, so they turned around to check what was happening.

Nothing seemed amiss at first glance, but the military police had been maintaining order in Ursus around this area the entire time. Some guards even stayed in the mines every day, so they had heard about these so-called "prophecies."

Although the authorities had suppressed them effectively and prevented the rumors from spreading, some people had still heard them. Once the prophecies that had originally been mere rumors were "fulfilled" by a supernatural phenomenon, people would inevitably believe them to some extent.

The gods would ultimately punish unjust oppression.

Could this be real?

Gods above, Your Majesty, could this... really be true?

A certain amount of wavering spread among the military police as well.

The only ones who knew nothing about it were the military personnel currently reorganizing their formation.

High in the sky, the purple point of light continued to rise.

However, outside the central army's tent in the distance, Koschei watched the purple point of light rising on the horizon with his usual elegant smile.

He knew exactly what it was. It was the "new friend" who had come to the gathering according to their contract.

Snake Scale had already brought the information onto the stage. Everyone now knew about the "prophecy" he had fabricated.

Ha, how foolish. They had believed such a rumor so easily.

If not for his Snake Scale, how could anything outside have entered the mine? And how could anyone have bribed the guards watching over the Infected?

All these seemingly coincidental miracles were actually man-made, and all of them had come from Koschei's hand.

Here, within his ducal territory, everyone—whether the Infected or the Ursus Garrison Legion—had been kept in the dark by him.

Every reason was perfect and justified. The coincidental lack of information had kept everyone here from knowing the truth, while Snake Scale had completed the task flawlessly.

Many, many people would die today, but that did not matter. Their deaths were their purpose and the meaning of their existence.

He loved everyone, whether they were wealthy people living in grandeur or the poor struggling to survive, whether they were good or evil. He loved them all, so long as they had a goal, so long as they were alive and striving toward it. No matter what that goal was, he loved them.

But he did not like things that wasted resources meaninglessly—things without a goal, without anything to strive toward. Such things were utterly meaningless, simply wasting resources.

But he was kind. Kind enough to give those he did not love a goal and a reason to strive, allowing them to obtain meaning.

Today, everyone would die with meaning and purpose. They all had their own goals and something to strive for as they lived.

It was simply too beautiful, wasn't it?

However, something that was already perfect had become even more perfect, because a new "friend" had joined his plan.

Even if the other party was cooperating only because they shared interests, rather than ideas, and even if they looked down on him and his plan with contempt.

But that did not matter. As long as they could achieve their goal, that was enough. That was his meaning as well.

Now, what he needed was to accelerate the process of the "Infected uprising." It was still too slow. The oppression was insufficient, the hope granted was insufficient, and the resistance was still far from enough.

Since the heart of resistance was not strong enough, he would manufacture it himself.

Since the oppression was insufficient, he would add fuel to the explosion that was about to occur!

Since the hope granted was insufficient, he would give them more false "hope."

Drawing them pretty pictures was simple enough.

And now, the man-made resistance was about to begin.

············

What a boring idea.

Chlorine Sodium truly looked down on Koschei's ideas. If he were not still useful to her, her personality would have led her to simply tear him apart and be done with it.

But for now, the matter concerning the protagonist still hung over her head.

Creating trouble everywhere was a good way to fish, but this kind of exhaustive search was merely a method of last resort—unless she could narrow down the scope of the search.

And now, the scope had arrived.

She would stage a grand "Infected resistance," adding fuel to this world that was like a powder keg. The various chemical reactions that followed would definitely create enormous waves.

As long as she did that, no matter who the protagonist actually was, they would have no choice but to step onto the stage of the story.

Once she had a target, setting goals and taking measures afterward would merely be a matter of time.

She hated trouble, and she hated the people who created trouble even more. The protagonist was exactly that sort of endless trouble.

She hated intense joy, and she also hated profound despair. What Chlorine Sodium wanted was a peaceful life. The best thing would be to spend her entire life like a plant.

But to accomplish her goal, she did not care about any means. Once she became serious, she had yet to meet anyone capable of posing a genuine threat to her.

Even the Child of the World had merely defeated the villain she played and the schemes and enterprise she operated. She herself would not be threatened, and that was why she had so many points.

Although Chlorine Sodium hated intense joy,

she did not mind a temporary partnership if it could accelerate the process and help her accomplish her goal.

She was a pragmatist. No one was unusable, no one was impossible to cooperate with, and there was nothing that could not be done.

She was a villain to begin with, and in her eyes, a villain's pride was utterly foolish.

Since she already had no bottom line, she naturally had to make good use of that.

With a slight manipulation of her abilities, she suddenly spread Honkai Energy outward in the form of a broadcast!

It was like a small-scale "Honkai."

The moment this power was released, it truly resembled a miracle.

It was an ethereal song, like the chanting of primordial monks. A vast domain unfolded, and within the rapidly expanding domain, the people it swallowed began undergoing astonishing mutations!

Strange purple patterns began seeping across everyone's skin, while something deeper began to emerge from beneath it!

Their hearts pounded uncontrollably, sending polluted blood throughout their bodies. The Honkai energy instantly destroyed the central nervous systems in their brains and seized control of every bodily command node, turning them from masters of themselves into puppets manipulated by the gods.

Their original rationality was instantly overwhelmed by a frenzied desire to attack. The Originium-infected parts of the Infected even mutated directly under the stimulation of Honkai Energy, turning the Infected into the perfect monster templates!

"What's happening?!"

"Attack! Attack now!"

"Aaaaaah!!!"

The Infected instantly turned into an enraged Beast Herd and charged toward the military police formation!

The military police had originally been responsible for maintaining internal security. The batons they carried were more than enough to deal with unarmed Infected and ordinary criminals, but without heavy weapons, they became extremely vulnerable when faced with a rampaging mob.

On top of that, they had no equipment for dealing with a situation like this. No one knew what had happened to these lowly wretches who usually endured everything without complaint.

Yet the radiation continued, and even the military police began going berserk and tearing into their own teammates!

"What in the world is happening?!"

The major general hurriedly directing the Guard Team's defense devoted all his energy to controlling the situation. He paid no attention at all to the flashes from the reporters around him—the government's mouthpieces—or to Koschei disappearing into the crowd.

The Infected's "resistance" had begun.

P.S.: Important notice. Because of an issue with the author's bank card, I can't sign the contract during this three-day holiday, sob. I have to go to the bank and unify the card and phone number with the number registered at Ciwai Mao, but both the bank and the Ciwai Mao editor are on holiday, so I have to wait until at least the day the bank reopens. Since the updates were too frequent before, I've accumulated quite a lot of word count. If I keep updating, I'll probably be put behind the paywall three days from now!!!! So for these three days, I'll first slow things down to one update a day, sob sob.

Please understand. Crying.

Section 20: Work-Life Balance

"How do you find this sight?"

Standing with his hands behind his back, Koschei once again displayed the manners of a noble.

Unfortunately, the Queen who had appeared here was not impressed.

Chlorine Sodium resembled this world's image of a god: mysterious and dignified, seemingly regarding everything with disdain and contempt.

Yet when she took advantage of human nature, she would reveal a false alternative face to deceive mortals.

Although he did not know the other party's motives, Koschei did not care about them either.

Having a goal and striving toward it was the embodiment of meaning. That was good. It suited his aesthetic perfectly.

However, the other party's actions had given Koschei an entirely new idea.

He needed a puppet, an heir of his own. But he had never put the plan into action because "Koschei" had no descendants.

After all, he was merely a curse. Anyone could be Koschei.

He had spent many years searching for someone suitable, but he had never found the right candidate.

It was difficult to find someone who was just right.

The legend passed down across the land was indeed true.

But he could not see through his nameless "friend."

This new idea, however, would be a great help to him.

Why not search for an heir himself?

Or rather, if he could not find one ready-made, he could simply create one.

Koschei did not love the shadowed figures in tragedies. The walking corpses who lived merely for the sake of staying alive were nothing more than a waste of society's resources. Only sufficient conflict could drive social development, advance civilization, and inspire people to create rich stories.

Just like novels and legends, conflict was everything in a story—and so were people.

Then, as long as he gave the blank slate he found the colors of conflict and tragedy, she could naturally drive all of this forward.

It was wonderful. Absolutely perfect!

What he originally needed was a grand plan, a plan to make the "Infected rise," and that "rise" naturally required a leader.

He had been searching all this time for a suitable person to serve as that puppet leader.

But he had always suffered from a lack of candidates. Now, however, he had a new idea.

If he could not find one, then he would create a Chosen One himself.

A suffering person whose destiny had been shaped by tragedy.

Utterly perfect.

"Ants devouring one another. Utterly boring. I only hope that after bringing me trouble, you can let me obtain what I want."

The silver-haired girl merely looked down at the burning land with her golden eyes for a while before losing interest.

She hated conflict, and she hated intense stimulation. Naturally, she had no interest in a scene like this.

Of course, Koschei's words were merely pointless small talk meant to open the conversation.

"Though it's boring, it is efficient. Here is what you wanted. Everything is written on it. Please be sure to make this fire burn even more fiercely."

It was a confidential report. Koschei's influence was deeply rooted within the empire, so obtaining such secret information was easy. After all, he knew the noble commanders of every Army Group.

The report contained a map of Ursus's defenses. Several important mines and the locations of their corresponding garrisons had even been helpfully circled in red.