Chapter 157
The production of Type-B Stigmata is low, but there is still a production of one per week.
Moreover, this output is not fixed; as the technology matures, future output will certainly increase.
After Freya made such assurances to the Valkyrie and won them over, she kept them all at the Schicksal Headquarters under the pretext of letting them recover.
After their fighting strength was taken away, the various branches had no way to resist the orders of the Schicksal Headquarters.
When it comes to being ruthless, Freya is no match for Otto.
Otto had previously ignored them and let them run wild in the local area, but Freya had no such intention and dared to run wild during her term.
Just wait to die!!
Faced with Schicksal where branches cannot defy headquarters and everyone is united as one, the Far Eastern government's various connections are utterly useless.
Now we have no choice but to completely back down and lease large tracts of land and sea to Schicksal.
Recognize the facts?
Are you mistaken for a threat?
Welt and Tesla had a lot to complain about, but... there was no point in arguing with the Black-bellied Saintess. Ever since her sister left a few months ago, she's become more and more unrestrained.
The dark-themed music video she just released really reflects her true nature.
However, among the Valkyrie, in addition to the title of Schicksal Saintess bestowed upon her by Otto, she is recognized by the Valkyrie Merciful Saintess.
Pah! This Black-bellied Saintess's persona is exactly the same as Otto's.
173. — Huh?
Freya's only extra task in the morning was shooting a music video for the Propaganda Department, and she quickly got back into her usual work routine.
As for the Far Eastern government's admission of weakness, she had long since forgotten about it.
Relocating the headquarters is no easy task, Nine Floating Islands flying over various countries will certainly cause considerable diplomatic problems.
Freya had planned to claim the land first, but she didn't expect the Far Eastern government to try to annoy her.
Of course, the final result was that the Far East government was utterly defeated by the Honkai Beast and finally remembered the fear of being dominated by Honkai Beast.
"I said... was letting that young lady leave a mistake?"
"... Welt, what are you saying? What wrong decision?"
During lunch, Welt, who rarely dined at a restaurant, chatted with Tesla.
"Don't you think the current Acting Grand Bishop is going a bit too far?"
On one hand, a Saintess is making her debut, and on the other hand, the power of the branch is being weakened at an alarming rate. At the same time, the Type-B Stigmata has been created. Although a few months is not a long time, the speed of Schicksal's development is somewhat exaggerated.
"I think it's alright. The main problem is that Otto didn't do anything before, which makes the Acting Grand Bishop's reforms seem too radical and too unrestrained. In fact... given the power of Schicksal, it wouldn't be surprising if he announced the establishment of a nation at any time."
In a world that is gradually Honkai, Schicksal, as the strongest force against the Honkai, has a transcendent status due to its monopoly on scientific and technological research and its control over military power.
Anyone who leads the Schicksal might also use this capital.
It can only be said that Otto truly cares nothing about anything other than reviving Kallen...
Freya had already shared her speculations with Welt and the others.
After learning that Otto wanted to resurrect his fiancée, Welt found the reason behind Otto's past actions; Tesla expressed his understanding of this, but still could not agree with Otto's approach.
"So, the Acting Grand Bishop isn't just letting loose; he simply wants to accelerate the development of Schicksal. Otherwise, if he doesn't show some strength, his previous actions of weakening the Acting Grand Bishop and the branches could very well have dealt a heavy blow to Schicksal."
"Laguna has made another move?"
"Well, the reason the Acting Grand Bishop equipped the Valkyrie of the Assault Team with Type-B Stigmata first was to get them to start acting sooner. The so-called testing of combat data was just an excuse. The Acting Grand Bishop hates those heretical scientists even more than you think."
"..."
Welt reluctantly scooped up a spoonful of the thick soup and silently savored it.
He wanted to say that it was just Freya's act of revenge, rather than a genuine expression of public hatred for the heretical scientists.
However, Freya's actions, though seemingly extreme, garnered a lot of support.
Just as Tesla said, in the past few months, Freya finally took action against many researchers under Schicksal, and even some senior researchers were not spared.
This is a reckoning.
Freya had always wanted to settle scores with the researchers at Schicksal.
The people she mainly investigated were all involved in experiments related to Kiana.
Even though they didn't have direct contact with Kiana, the experiments they conducted still left Kiana with immense psychological trauma.
Freya's actions against these researchers will surely force Laguna to read out his crimes.
Of course, in order to prevent the researchers from tarnishing the image of Schicksal, Freya had Laguna pin all the blame on the other party.
However, most of the researchers went astray mainly because of Otto's indulgence.
Otto gave them too much freedom.
Freya had no intention of giving the remaining researchers any freedom.
After all, Einstein and Tesla from the Anti-Entropy side were very willing to take over the Schicksal Lab.
The Anti-Entropy Conservatives researchers don't mind taking two salaries; of course, they'd be happy to help with research even for just one salary—in fact, they'd come running even if they had to pay for it themselves.
Ultimately, while the previous Schicksal was very free for its researchers and gave them general research directions, it did not disclose many of its cutting-edge research technologies to its internal researchers in the way Freya's administration did.
However, according to Freya, the cutting-edge scientific research technology she has publicly revealed is only the most basic level.
The vast amount of technology in the Schicksal Database could not possibly have been researched and developed by Otto alone.
At first, Freya thought it was technology found in the Pre-Civilization Ruins.
But there are just too many technologies in the database.
Freya even used her authority Acting Grand Bishop to investigate the number of Pre-Civilization Ruins managed by Schicksal.
Judging from the number of relics that Schicksal possesses, the technology in the database must have come from other sources.
It is impossible to excavate such a large amount of technology from the ruins.
However, there is no doubt that a large amount of the technology in the database comes from Previous Civilization.
If there truly were a relic that stored all the technology of Previous Civilization, the world would have already waged a world war over that relic long ago.
It can be said that Freya's decision to disclose a small portion of her research technology garnered her considerable support from researchers.
Her ruthless handling of heretical scientists, because she held the moral high ground, ultimately did not provoke resistance from researchers.
After all, the remaining researchers, while not entirely innocent, were not so corrupt as to warrant being purged.
As for resisting the Acting Grand Bishop's purges, let's not even talk about whether they can win. For researchers, even if they win the resistance, the Acting Grand Bishop will not benefit them at all. The most coveted cutting-edge technologies are in the hands of the Acting Grand Bishop, and research funding must be approved and approved by the Acting Grand Bishop before it can be distributed.
So, let's rebel against a basket.
Not all researchers are crazy or have a penchant for torturing people.
Some experiments use living people simply to get results faster.
If they don't have human volunteers, they can use lab mice and take their time; at worst, they can sue animal protection associations.
With the financial support of Schicksal, most laboratories can find volunteers. In cities where Honkai events have occurred, human life is the cheapest commodity.
Families were torn apart, wives and children were separated; such scenes were common in the city that was in Honkai.
Often, these survivors do not care about becoming subjects of Schicksal's experiments.
This is because Schicksal is the greatest force fight against Honkai, and in the eyes of ordinary people, it is the guardian of billions of people on this planet.
Survivors who sacrificed themselves to fight against Honkai, or even sought revenge against the Honkai, and who were missing limbs or had little life left, did not care at all.
It can be said that most of the researchers in the Schicksal who use living people for experiments are already kind enough.
As for using money to lure homeless people as experimental subjects, the two parties had, after all, signed a formal contract.
It's like a man and a woman are in love; it's a mutual consent. If they don't end up in bed together and do real business, is it just for flirting?
It cannot be said that the researchers' actions were right, but their actions were within Freya's tolerance range. Compared to this type of researcher, Freya mainly targets researchers who are completely devoid of emotion, or even completely devoid of humanity.
Of course, there are also neurotic types who enjoy the misfortune and suffering of others.
Although Freya's actions were morally justified, they did indeed weaken Schicksal's strength.
The higher-ups naturally had some reservations about this, but would it be of any use to Freya?
She had the support of most researchers, which naturally offset the negative impact of her ruthless treatment of heretical scientists.
Moreover, when it comes to creating momentum and image projects, although Schicksal's Propaganda Department is not very serious and had not done much before he was released, after Otto asked for more screen time for him, the Propaganda Department was like a snowball rolling down a snow mountain and could not be stopped!
Freya also trusted the Propaganda Department's 'post-production'.
As it turned out, they were just singing karaoke in the commercial district out of "nothing to do" when the Valkyrie squad happened to be passing by and filmed the whole thing with their phones...
As soon as the songstress Saintess debuted, most of the negative impacts were eliminated.
The biggest difference between her and Otto is that she is much cuter Otto, and she can sing and dance... Of course, Freya still refused to dance.
Singing and music videos are already her limit.
It was precisely because Freya acted so forcefully that no force dared to cause trouble for Schicksal when she weakened Schicksal power.
"Ultimately, our Acting Grand Bishop has a higher reputation than Otto. To the Valkyrie, our Acting Grand Bishop is a comrade-in-arms who can fight alongside them. Moreover, she has provided the Type-B Stigmata, which is entirely beneficial to the Valkyrie. Furthermore, she is now preparing to reform the Valkyrie system and add several welfare policies in order to secure new benefits for the Valkyrie..."
Tesla's lips curled up slightly. "The more you compare the Acting Grand Bishop with the original Grand Bishop, the more the Valkyrie side with the Acting Grand Bishop. And for this world, the combat power to fight the Honkai is the most important asset."
"Speaking of which, you seem to be getting quite close to the Acting Grand Bishop lately."
"Of course, I'm Aurora's 'Sister Tesla,' one of our own. The Acting Grand Bishop even gave me a forbidden technology to study."
"Forbidden technology?"
"Hmm... it's the kind of technology that could destroy the world if something goes wrong."
Tesla tore off a piece of soft bread and stuffed it into his mouth. He had to admit that the food at Schicksal was quite good. Eating at a restaurant occasionally was also very classy, like dining in the top-floor restaurant of a three-star hotel.
"The Acting Grand Bishop gave me research on the core technology of the Honkai Energy Reactor, and it seems she wants to apply it to the space station she's planning. Our Acting Grand Bishop wants to build a Space Elevator in the Far East and transform Schicksal's Floating Island into a space station and send it into geostationary orbit... She's recently been talking to Ryoma about aerospace materials..."
"--ha?"
Welt felt he could throw away his title of special advisor.
He had no idea Freya had devised such a plan, but judging from Tesla's expression, it seemed that many Conservatives members of Anti-Entropy knew about it.
Freya's large-scale purge of researchers clearly indicates her intention to make room for researchers from Anti-Entropy.
However, even as the Anti-Entropy Leader, he still hadn't heard about this from his subordinates.
174. Is their Black-bellied Saintess really that fierce?
Welt felt exhausted, and even the soft, delicious bread tasted like wax.
"Am I completely useless as a special advisor...?"
"How could that be? The Acting Grand Bishop has given you a lot of authority, hasn't he? And isn't the special advisor position meant that the Acting Grand Bishop consults you before pushing forward any policies?"
Tesla, scooping up his soup, seemed puzzled.
In the restaurant, many noble Valkyrie were looking at Welt with admiring eyes. As a special advisor appointed by the Acting Grand Bishop, Welt was able to influence the Acting Grand Bishop's decisions.
Naturally, she caught the eye of the noble Valkyrie.
With his handsome looks and noble status, such a good son-in-law is a source of great satisfaction for both the Valkyrie themselves and their families.
"Uh... it seems like she only consulted me a few times at the beginning."
"So, now she's showing her true colors~"
Tesla toyed with the grilled sausage on the plate in front of him with his fork, and smiled with a playful expression.
"Perhaps, as you said, we shouldn't have let that young lady leave."
In the months since Kiana left, Freya's reforms to Schicksal have been quite sweeping and drastic, and could easily have ruined the Schicksal.
"But our Acting Grand Bishop is still shrewd; she diverted the attention of the discontented. For example, the Senate, which she nearly brought to collapse, could only focus on how to mitigate the impact of the funding disruption after the black market was shut down..."
"Then came the crazy treatment of the researchers. The results obtained from experiments on experimental animals and on humans will definitely be different. In the end, we will definitely have to use volunteers for experiments. Most of the researchers in Schicksal were dissatisfied with the actions of the Acting Grand Bishop. The way our Acting Grand Bishop silenced them was by making public some of the basic technologies of the Previous Civilization... Not to mention those dissatisfied researchers, many researchers in Anti-Entropy wanted to switch to Schicksal."
Upon hearing Tesla's words, Welt's lips twitched involuntarily.