Chapter 134: Preparations

"What? You want me to carry a bundle of thorns and beg for forgiveness? That is impossible!"

In Lin Zhongqing's office, the most heated argument was currently erupting.

"That is correct. This is the decision of our Holy Land, and your family has already been notified and has given their consent," the pale-faced man said indifferently. "You killed a high-ranking lord without authorization. Being granted the opportunity to beg for forgiveness is already the result of us pulling strings on your behalf, strictly because of your high aptitude."

"Damn it! I killed it because it deserved to die!" Lin Zhongqing refused to back down. "Since it called us ants, if it was bitten to death by an ant, it only has itself to blame for being too weak!"

"There is no need for you to be angry or feel aggrieved. In the face of the grand scheme of human survival, you as an individual count for nothing," the pale-faced man said, unmoved.

"Disgusting! I used to think the Holy Land was a glorious place leading the reconstruction of civilization; it turns out to be just as filthy and complicit with those evil entities!" Lin Zhongqing was burning with rage, barely able to suppress the urge to tear the man in front of her into pieces.

However, she did not do so, because it would be meaningless. She could see at a glance that this man was merely a tool—a paper effigy used to deliver a message.

"Why are you so angry?" the pale-faced man asked, surprised. "You come from Shenzhou; you should be very familiar with this and accustomed to it."

"What do you mean by that?" Lin Zhongqing asked coldly.

He said faintly, "Shenzhou has fallen more than once. Now, it is just replacing alien races with a more advanced extraterrestrial civilization, and replacing the people of Shenzhou with all of humanity... The so-called Holy Land is simply using the most humble posture to accomplish the greatest thing: the continuation of our race. Being asked to beg for forgiveness is something you should accept gladly."

"This is not history! I have my own insights and my own mind; I will never submit to the dirty will of some people!" Lin Zhongqing could not contain her fury and finally lashed out with a wave of her hand.

A flash of white light streaked across. The pale-faced man opposite her transformed into a painting. The painting was beautiful, but the human heart behind it was filthy.

She raged, "To survive, to continue the race, must we pay the price of becoming slaves and maggots? Rather than living in such repression, it would be better to die in a blaze of glory!"

The man in the painting continued, "You alone cannot represent others. You may not fear death, but others still wish to live. Yet, your individual actions implicate everyone else. Therefore, you cannot resist; you must accept your guilt and endure humiliation to survive for the sake of the greater good. There are many figures in history worth learning from..."

"Impossible!" Lin Zhongqing roared. "I will not sacrifice myself for that trash! I will fight to the end! The 'lords' in your eyes, the extraterrestrial civilization in your eyes, are not nearly as powerful as you imagine. It is nothing more than self-deception!"

"You are all just cowards afraid of death. The so-called Holy Land is nothing but a nauseating group of people colluding with those dirty, evil things! Sooner or later, I will sweep you all away!"

"If that is the case, it seems you do not wish to accept our goodwill. It is a pity; I had hoped you could become a pillar to stabilize the relationship between both sides, but it seems that is not to be," the man in the painting shook his head. "The true power of the opposition is something you do not understand. Weakness is not an obstacle to survival; ignorance is."

Then, the entire painting turned into a puff of smoke and vanished.

"Detestable!" Lin Zhongqing said, annoyed.

Today, she felt as if she had been angry for a lifetime.

At this moment, Dongfang Yitong floated out from the system space.

"Calm down. The appearance of this person seems to have been specifically to provoke you," Dongfang Yitong said calmly.

"Provoke me?" Lin Zhongqing slowly calmed down. Upon closer reflection, the man in the painting had indeed acted that way.

If the other party truly wanted to persuade her to go and beg for forgiveness, they would surely know her personality and would not have used that tone.

But then again, who could say this wasn't due to the arrogance of the Holy Land? They assumed that once an order was given, others would have to obey. Such self-righteous "big shots" were countless, especially those modeled after feudal emperors.

She voiced her suspicions.

"Information is scarce right now, so we cannot judge their true intentions. You have only heard about what kind of existence the Holy Land is from your family occasionally. What we need to do now is, first, send a message to your family to verify the truth of what this person said, and second, urgently prepare a large batch of Spirit Cores. Through previous interrogations, I have compiled a method for transferring them through the Ethereal World. As long as we can achieve this, we will be invincible," Dongfang Yitong remained very calm.

"Very well. I knew Brother Dongfang would never let me down," Lin Zhongqing felt a sense of relief.

She quickly gave orders, letting everyone perform their duties to keep things running.

...

Fan Bei soon learned of the existence of the so-called "Holy Land" from the Butler System. He pondered for a moment and sent an inquiry to the Sword System.

Its first host, Fatty Hou, was indeed crafty; while pretending to be a fool, he had managed to learn much about these secrets.

"The Holy Land originated from an organization that served as a liaison between humans and evil spirits. Some people claimed to have received divine revelations; in reality, they were chosen by high-level evil spirits as agents to manage humanity. Thus, they call themselves the 'Holy Land.' They reside in a corner of the Ethereal World, existing outside of the physical world, overseeing the reconstruction of civilization," the Sword System replied.

"I see. So, it's essentially just the owner of a farm," Fan Bei shook his head.

He then instructed, "Hurry up and squeeze Fatty Hou. Make him seize power quickly and consolidate the resources of the Nanling Chamber of Commerce. A great battle is likely coming. Once it starts, we will either have to relocate or emerge victorious."

...

Nanling Chamber of Commerce.

The sword faithfully conveyed its creator's intentions.

"That's impossible. In the face of power, even mothers and sons turn against each other. Didn't Wu Zetian kill her own sons?" Fatty Hou shook his head repeatedly. "Don't ruin me. If I wait another two years, Mother will automatically step down."

The sword persuaded, "You are doing this for her own good, to prevent her from ultimately being harmed by those three evil entities."

"But it's too rushed. It's easy to cause problems and backfire, making her misunderstand that I'm only acting like a fool to seize power," Fatty Hou still disagreed.

"Oh, in that case, didn't you mention before that Zhao Boyue wanted to secretly contact the Star Chamber of Commerce to help him eliminate the three evil entities and seize power? Put some effort into making that happen quickly, then sit back and reap the rewards. You humans in reality are so sluggish; there's nothing refreshing about it like in the TV dramas."

"Hey, why are you suddenly so urgent?" Fatty Hou grew suspicious. "Could it be that someone is directing you to do this?"

Having pretended to be a fool for over a decade, his cunning was far beyond that of an ordinary person; he immediately spotted the issue with the sword.

The final answer he received was three screams of agony from himself!

"Grandpa Sword, I was wrong! I shouldn't have questioned your glorious and righteous self! I'll go do it right now, I'll go do it right now!"

"It would have been better if you had done that sooner! Honestly, you force this old man to use righteous sanctions!"