The Pale Holy See, the magnificent Great Hall.
Regent Duoxia sat in a room behind the main hall. On the table in front of him was a tall stack of documents, and the projector in front of him was constantly displaying notifications of new documents.
After many years, Duoxia's old face, which had been chosen for its kindness and gentleness, now had a shadowy look on it, and his eyes were like those of an eagle, staring straight ahead with a piercing light.
The Human Federation has been at war for over a thousand years, and all decisions made during this time have been in the hands of this old man.
Initially, he still cared about human rights and freedom. Although he implemented wartime communism, he maintained a three-shift, eight-hour work system to give people as much free time as possible. He did not impose any harsh conditions on people's food, clothing, housing, or transportation. On the contrary, he distributed various recreational facilities to the public free of charge for relaxation.
From this perspective, Duoxia was still kind and benevolent back then.
However, as the environment worsened, his methods became increasingly radical. He massively conscripted soldiers, extended working hours to twelve hours, and reduced the distribution of entertainment equipment to save productivity... Under the pressure of reality, he lowered his bottom line step by step.
However, this was just the beginning.
To promote population growth, they encouraged childbirth, with those who gave birth exempt from work. Working hours were extended to sixteen hours a day, all leisure time was abolished, leaving only endless work and endless conscription of soldiers.
Until the Thousand-Year War, the methods became even more brutal. To ensure the production needs of the front lines, flesh and blood production workshops were established, cloning technology was liberalized, the military established a cloning production system, forced births, and built breeding bases... Until today, the front lines have completely collapsed, soldiers are no longer being transported, and all production has been geared towards the Great Crusade...
This old man, who once Betrayal the Holy Lord Church Betrayal Pope Adam, is now no different from Adam of the past. Such changes in the world are truly laughable and pathetic.
Even more tragically, despite the Great Crusade's best efforts, it could not withstand the onslaught of the Aberration on the front lines.
"Your Majesty, for some unknown reason, the Flower Dwarf Star System has suddenly been locked onto by three Star System Aberration. However, none of the personnel within the galaxy have yet been transported. An urgent report has arrived from the front lines, inquiring whether priority should be given to transporting pregnant women and newborns in the maternity wards or to city residents?"
A phone call was made directly to the projection device above Duoxia's head, and the person on the other end sounded extremely anxious.
"Completely abandon the mother and newborn, prioritize transporting Fifth Stage survivors, regardless of age or gender, take as many as possible, abandon everything else!" Duoxia's response rang out coldly without any hesitation.
Duoxia hung up the phone, her sullen gaze shifting from the projector to the table in front of her.
He sat upright for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh.
"Ah... Adam, I never thought that I, Duoxia, would one day understand your feelings."
The continuation of the human race transcends all rules and morality!
"Knock knock..." Just as His Majesty Duoxia was deep in thought, another knock sounded from outside the door.
"Come in."
As Duoxia spoke, three Church officials dressed in bishop's robes strode in, their faces filled with urgency.
"Your Majesty, bad news!"
"Hmm?" Duoxia slightly raised his eyelids, his vulture-like face filled with gloom.
Upon being looked at like that, the Church personnel who had just come in to report instantly broke out in a cold sweat, stood up straight, and calmed their voices.
"Your Majesty, bad news. Based on the observations and research conducted by several scholars in the Aberration Analysis Research Laboratory regarding the situation at the front lines, they have reached a startling conclusion: those Aberration, or rather, those large Aberration, appear to possess consciousness!"
"Existence of thought? Utterly laughable. These deformed life forms, whose souls and bodies are fused together, don't even have brains. How could they possibly possess thought?" Duoxia raised an eyebrow, repeatedly calling it impossible, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The people below wouldn't joke with him, so this matter is really true?
The existence of Aberration thinking is not a good phenomenon, or rather, it is a very bad thing.
Think about it, who was the last powerful being that also possessed thought?
Yes, it's Norton.
From its inception to the present day, this creature's name can be found in all sorts of vicious wars and cholera outbreaks recorded in human history books.
If these Star System Aberration also possessed consciousness, what would they do?
You should know, there are currently six or seven of these!
Damn it, one Norton made the Human Federation suffer terribly, and now six or seven Little Norton have appeared together, how can humanity possibly survive?
"Did they already possess consciousness from the moment they were born, or did they only develop consciousness now?" Duoxia's heart sank, and his face turned grim.
"This is still undecided, but based on the observations and speculations of those scholars, they tend to believe that these Aberration already possessed thought from the moment they were born!"
Because based on the roadmap they drew and the various candlestick charts showing the amplitude of the outward spread of Aberration, they captured a behavior similar to captivity!
The bishop wiped the cold sweat from his brow and spoke cautiously.
"What? Domestication?" Duoxia's face turned pale, and his heart tightened.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Those Aberrant Star System seem to be consciously charting their course, even exhibiting behaviors similar to cooperative predation. The size of the small Aberration they release has varied over the years, all closely related to the situation on the front lines."
Now that we have completely withdrawn from the front lines, their routes of travel have changed, and even the number and direction of the Aberration they have been released have changed.
They are more like chasing and gathering us, surrounding us but not killing us. Only galaxies on their encirclement line will be invaded by them in cooperation. The Flower Dwarf Star System was invaded because it was on their encirclement line!
In other words, they are like humans raising cattle and sheep in captivity, keeping us confined, driving us to escape, reproduce, and carry out sustainable encroachment!
"What? How is this possible!" Duoxia was so shocked that he stood up from his chair, his eyes fixed on the bishop in front of him, and exclaimed.
"How could these bizarre species, which are not products of God at all, possibly possess thought? Their very existence is a result of the cholera that plagued the world. They are the product of the chaos in Heaven and Garden of Eden, and proof of this very source of chaos. How could such mutated beings possess advanced intelligence like humans? This is completely inconsistent with their chaotic nature!"
"Damn it, who's spreading these rumors?" Duoxia was furious, but his expression was a mixture of anger and shock. Clearly, he now knew that his words were not convincing.
After all, how could there be a problem with results obtained through observation?
However, the intelligent behavior of these Aberration is completely inconsistent with his knowledge of God and creation from the time of the ancient Papal State to the present day.
This is like putting a human into a meat grinder and grinding them up, assuming that their body cells don't die and they still exhibit conscious behavior.
This is simply impossible, because thought arises from bodily structure, not merely from life activity.
"Your Majesty, these are the results of observations by those scholars! They themselves do not believe it, but it is the truth!"
Their current movement behavior is indeed indicative of domestication by humans; such spontaneous behavior could not possibly be something they are not doing on their own!
Surely someone can't be manipulating them from behind the scenes!
Cries for justice echoed in the room, but Duoxia's voice remained silent for a long time...