Chapter 252

(So it was you who caused the internal strife in the World Serpent!)

(In the mute!)

(Just think how those two internal conflicts happened so inexplicably...)

(If I were Gray Serpent, I probably would have gone crazy too.)

Noticing the strange looks from the others, including A-374, Freya quickly coughed twice.

With her thick skin, she was completely unafraid of being seen through.

"Jackal was previously in charge of Stigmata Project, and once Stigmata Project is implemented, the death toll will exceed several billion, or rather... more than 99 percent of humanity will die during the implementation of Stigmata Project."

"...We all know that, but given the World Serpent's current conditions, they can't possibly carry out the Stigmata Project." Welt sighed.

From a certain perspective, Freya's constant suppression of the World Serpent Organization was also to prevent the other party from having the ability to recruit genius scientists and then carry out the Stigmata Activation Plan again, thereby causing the deaths of a large number of people.

"According to the main idea within World Serpent, those who died in the Stigmata Project were considered necessary sacrifices, and even believed that all deaths were stepping stones to save humanity. Incidentally, this sentence was originally spoken by Jackal. Although she herself repented, I still stripped her naked and locked her in a small dark room for a whole day."

"!!!"

"!!"

"Well..."

While I feel some sympathy for the Jackal's plight, he certainly deserved it.

Tesla, being a fellow researcher, could not have had much difficulty understanding those scientists who were obsessed with experiments and indifferent to life.

As scientists acquire more knowledge, they lose their reverence for life.

Even worse, they have an omnipotent sense that they alone possess the truth, viewing others as beings different from themselves, or as dust.

They believe that the deaths of these ignorant people for their experiments are the greatest fortune of all, and that the data built up by their so-called sacrifices are the stepping stones for their exploration of the truth.

Yes, there's no grand claim to saving humanity. Stripped of all the glamour, the research results Jackal built with human lives were nothing more than her attempts to verify her hypothetical data and prove how brilliant she was.

In fact, there are quite a few scientists like this. They exist in the Schicksal, the Anti-Entropy Organization, and even in the academies of various countries. However, most scientists choose to disguise themselves rather than reveal their true identities.

"No matter what, the World Serpent must die."

"Freya, put all those excuses aside. That's not what I want to know."

If the Stigmata Activation Plan were to occur, it would result in the death of over 99% of humanity.

This excuse might fool some people, but Theresa actually believed it. Her cute little face was all scrunched up in distress. She was the most opposed to war, but now she had to consider the pros and cons of starting a war and whether she should use a fierce battle to stop the massive sacrifices brought about by the Stigmata Project.

"Lady Theresa, don't even think about starting a war. Given Freya's personality, she would never allow the so-called Stigmata Project to succeed. Moreover... Freya has created a new antibody. World Serpent has given up thousands of technologies in the past six months in order to trade the new antibody with us. It is clear that the new antibody is helpful to the so-called Stigmata Project. Even if the Stigmata Project is carried out, there will not be such an exaggerated sacrifice rate."

After Welt finished speaking, he and the others looked at Freya, waiting for her to give the real reason for advocating war.

(Group: 488749799)

297. Wait, isn't the veto power in my hands?

Welt did not believe Freya's reason for advocating war, which was the Stigmata Project.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, Freya was becoming more and more like Otto Apocalypse, and given the other's cautious nature, Welt simply did not believe that she was unprepared for the so-called Stigmata Project.

Therefore, the World Serpent's initiation of the Stigmata Activation Plan is definitely not her real reason for advocating war.

By her very nature, Freya never intended to save everyone; the only ones who could move her were her two sisters.

Rather than believing that the other party advocated war against the World Serpent to prevent the death of 99% of humanity due to the Stigmata Project, it's more reasonable to believe that their reason for waging war against the World Serpent was simply to get their runaway sister back to her hometown.

Ha, a sister complex.

Welt felt he was pretty close to guessing.

Even so, after a moment of silence, Freya raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

She clearly gave up on pretending to be stupid.

"... Wouldn't it be better if I used these high-sounding reasons to take down World Serpent?"

"Freya, the alliance is not in a good position to start a war now. No war will benefit us."

Welt answered calmly.

Although Welt tried his best to avoid internal strife, sometimes he didn't mind stirring up chaos and conflict in order to protect more people.

As the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, his focus as the head of an organization was never on the good or evil of individuals, but on the survival of the race.

Therefore, Welt could bow his head to Otto.

Of course... this was before discovering that Otto had sabotaged things during the Second Eruption War. Now, if Otto dares to continue causing trouble, Welt is prepared to die with him, even if it costs Otto his own life.

Otto may have been indispensable in the past, but Otto is no longer an indispensable figure today.

The alliance between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy has gradually moved away from its dependence on Otto. The new antibody and Type-B Stigmata unique to Freya, as well as the ever-increasing number of new technologies from researchers belonging to the alliance, have allowed the alliance to break free from the shadow of the Schicksal.

Freya nodded slightly; she understood what Welt meant.

Therefore, there was no concealment, no high-sounding excuses, and no need for any trivial sense of righteousness.

"Although Kiana behaved normally in the consciousness space last night, I know she should have been under house arrest for a while... I just happened to get this information from Cocolia today, and given her personality, she would definitely not agree to this operation."

"This operation was absolutely Gray Serpent's own initiative. In fact, the two internal conflicts I caused had little impact on World Serpent. The trigger was the division of opinions within World Serpent!"

"I just sent a spy to infiltrate World Serpent to investigate. Coincidentally, he discovered that the internal divisions within World Serpent were becoming increasingly serious, so I just added fuel to the fire. The fact that World Serpent experienced two internal conflicts was also because there were such signs within the organization."

Freya, with a kind smile, continued, "Of course, the main problem with World Serpent right now is that it doesn't have a leader who can truly reverse the predicament. Kiana has performed quite well, but she is only slowly changing World Serpent's reputation. As for Gray Serpent, due to a series of missteps, his reputation within the organization has been declining, and he can no longer control all the members as he used to."

"In order to solve the biggest problem facing the World Serpent, Gray Serpent has no choice but to place Kiana under Sea of Quantum arrest and force us to make concessions through a full-scale war that our alliance absolutely does not want to fight, so as to rescue the leader of the World Serpent from the Sea of Quanta!"

"...really."

"I just felt like something wasn't right."

"Kiana is under house arrest?"

"..."

Welt and the others responded to Freya's remarks one by one.

Putting aside the internal problems of World Serpent, the main issue is indeed related to Kiana.

"Nonsense... If Gray Serpent hadn't imprisoned Kiana, I might have considered giving up Sea Abyss City. Although releasing the Ancestor at this stage would be disadvantageous for us, the Ancestor wouldn't choose to wage a full-scale war against us. In the end, it's still his fault for bullying my little sister."

This is Freya's honest opinion, without any lies.

With her holding the Stigmata Activation Plan in place, even if the World Serpent recklessly carries out the Stigmata Project, the new antibody she provides will prevent the originally estimated death toll from occurring.

In reality, she didn't care at all about the World Serpent.

However, since Gray Serpent chose to detain her young lady, she should bear the consequences of her anger.

"Have some self-respect, you siscon. Don't actually start a war with World Serpent over this. They've only imprisoned Kiana, and Kiana didn't say anything in the consciousness space, which means she's safe. Gray Serpent must have communicated with her before imprisoning her," Welt said irritably.

With her advisory team and Freya's guidance on scheming, Kiana's position in World Serpent is hard to shake. Most importantly, her actions do indeed improve World Serpent's situation.

However, the internal problems of World Serpent are escalating, and it seems poised to self-destruct before Kiana can change World Serpent's reputation.

This is indeed partly due to Freya's constant suppression of World Serpent.

Like a spring that is constantly being compressed, it either breaks with a 'bang' or withstands the pressure and rebounds— the World Serpent Organization clearly belongs to the former.

Unable to withstand the pressure, two internal conflicts erupted with a 'bang'.

The result of these two internal conflicts was that the World Serpent Organization was completely divided into various factions.

The lower-ranking members formed cliques and called for the return of the true leader. Some even went so far as to falsely accuse Gray Serpent of defecting to the enemy, saying that he had long since become the lackey of the current Acting Grand Bishop of Schicksal.

Although such problems have always existed, Gray Serpent's personal credibility continues to decline.

Especially since Gray Serpent had to exchange technology from the Previous Era to obtain more new antibodies, he was seen as a 'snake traitor' by the other members.

It's not fair to blame some members for falsely accusing him of defecting to the enemy. After all... if he hadn't defected, why would he have exchanged his precious technology? Couldn't he have just seized the factory that Schicksal was using to produce the new antibody? They didn't mind paving the way with their own lives.

However, Gray Serpent truly had a bitter pill to swallow.

Schicksal... or rather, the Acting Grand Bishop's initial decision was not to sell the new antibody.

He begged Kiana to communicate with this Acting Grand Bishop Kiana, and the Acting Grand Bishop's offer was technology from the Previous Era.

As for seizing the factory that produces the new antibody... that production factory is located inside Changkong City and is heavily guarded. In fact, let alone getting close to the interior of Changkong City, just approaching Changkong City would be detected by patrolling Floating Battleship.

Because World Serpent is on the verge of self-destruction, Kiana is in a terrible predicament, and Gray Serpent take all the blame and use a fierce battle to resolve the internal division.

In other words, it means using external enemies to resolve internal conflicts.

When faced with a common enemy, even enemies with whom there are conflicts will choose to join forces.

Just like during the Second Eruption War, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy cooperated for a time.

Kiana and the Gray Serpent chose to attack Sea Abyss City for two purposes: firstly, to divert internal conflicts, and secondly, to rescue Kevin, the true leader of the World Serpent.

When the Lord reigns supreme over the World Serpent, even the greatest internal chaos will succumb to the Lord's invincibility.

Secondly, the war was used to deplete some members who had other ideas. In fact, as morale within World Serpent continued to decline, members recruited with faith, ideology, and so on were gradually becoming corrupt.

Just like faction wars, three factions are fighting each other. In the end, one faction has never won from the beginning and was last in the last faction war. When the new round of faction wars begins, who will want to continue to choose this faction?

For these members, the invincible World Serpent is no more.

All they have is a pathetic organization that is constantly bullied by a girl who is only about ten years old.

If Gray Serpent had been able to keep these members in check, the situation wouldn't have deteriorated to this extent. However, his repeated defeats have diminished his once extremely high prestige day by day.

The practice of exchanging technology for new antibodies was criticized by other officials.

The failure to prevent two internal conflicts, and the theft of a large amount of secrets, dealt the most fatal blow to the already crumbling World Serpent.

Freya's underhanded tactics were truly outrageous, clearly aimed at preventing World Serpent from engaging in any underhanded maneuvers.

At best, internal conflicts will rage within the World Serpent Organization, and Kiana will only be able to maintain her position as acting leader with her meager reputation. Although she cannot realize her wish in the short term, in the long run, she will eventually be able to have an organization that is entirely hers, an organization whose position cannot be shaken even if the Ancestor returns.

In severe cases, the World Serpent Organization could be completely destroyed. Freya would lead the Alliance forces to clean up the mess and, incidentally, bring the runaway girl home.

"Well, Mr. Welt, you're right. Kiana's house arrest is probably part of her plan with Gray Serpent, but for us, it's a good opportunity..."

Freya had no intention of letting her ancestor out.

After all, she is no match for the Ancestor now. Once the Ancestor successfully returns, there will definitely be no one in the alliance who can stop that guy.

Although there is still a sage in the alliance, Freya saw the War of Finality of the Previous Era through the records in the Soul Steel, and she knew very well that among the eight warriors who fought against the Herrscher of Finality, only Kevin Kaslana was completely different in level.

Leaving aside the two warriors who died within the first five minutes, although they possessed strength comparable to Herrscher, they were still weak to the Herrscher of Finality.

Even Immortal Fu Hua from the Previous Era, was easily manipulated by the Herrscher of Finality and was defeated in a short time.

I'm currently somewhat weaker than the weakest of the eight warriors in the War of Finality, let alone the strongest warrior Kevin.

"It's not hard to guess why the Gray Serpent wants to attack Sea Abyss City. Whether they want to rescue the Ancestor or divert internal conflicts, they will inevitably launch a strong attack on Sea Abyss City, which will give us the opportunity to ambush them."

Freya shrugged; her desire to take down the World Serpent Organization was very strong.

However, Welt, Tesla, and Theresa still had to consider the gains and losses.

Although the house arrest was a ruse by Kiana and Gray Serpent, Kiana was indeed indeed house-arrested by Gray Serpent. Gray Serpent's reasons for wanting to attack Sea Abyss City were only two, and for the Alliance, this was a rare opportunity.

After all, the Gray Serpent needed a war to divert attention from its internal conflicts.

If the alliance withdraws its troops, a resounding victory will completely overturn the landscape of World Serpent.

However, the alliance does not necessarily have to withdraw.

Just as Freya said, the Gray Serpent must attack Sea Abyss City, so... the Alliance can simply get ready and wait for the World Serpent Organization to come to them.

"Even ambushing the World Serpent will result in losses. There aren't many units in the Alliance that can be considered combat-ready right now, and those regular units may not be of any use. We can't afford to lose them."

Tesla holds the opposite view.

Even though this opportunity was too rare and the likelihood of a fight between the two sides was too high, she couldn't bear to watch so many lives be sacrificed on this meaningless battlefield.

"I agree. Although this opportunity is indeed rare, even a centipede with a hundred legs will not die easily. No matter how down on its luck the World Serpent Organization is, it is not something that the alliance of the two parties can win with a small number of sacrifices. The most important thing is... they have nothing now. Freya, you must know that a desperate army will surely win. The World Serpent in its current state will be very terrifying."

Welt couldn't guarantee what would happen if he really went to war with the World Serpent.

Especially when the World Serpent attacks Sea Abyss City, their internal conflicts will no longer exist. At this time, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy will inevitably face a group of fanatical believers who are united and unafraid of sacrifice.

"I share the same view as Tesla and Welt. Freya... not every rare opportunity should be seized. Civil war between humans is meaningless, especially since the members of World Serpent are not normal to begin with."

Theresa's projection perfectly captured the thoughtful expression on her face at that moment.

Theresa, who occasionally uses her brain, knows that this opportunity is rare, just like knowing that a snake is about to crawl out of its hole to steal chickens from the coop... In this situation, you would definitely set a trap instead of unguarding the coop and letting the snake eat to its heart's content.