Just a Frame-Up

"The combat power of MANTIS Warriors… seems to be a bit beyond imagination…"

In the pitch-black, boundless room, thirteen tombstones stood, only Mei's figure was missing in the center.

The voice of [.06] quickly received a chorus of agreement.

"That's right, the entire battle process lasted less than ten minutes. Judging from the battlefield footage, except for the initial probing phase where he was slightly at a disadvantage, the Fifth Herrscher was directly finished off by Kevin with one blow afterwards."

"And the Honkai energy reaction level. The Fifth Herrscher's Honkai energy reaction level exceeded 5,000 HW. During the battle, the First Herrscher only deployed the Imaginary Barrier, his reaction can be ignored. And throughout the process, the instrument maintained the 9999HW upper limit. This shows that Kevin's Honkai energy reaction level is also at least around 5000HW…"

"Terrifyingly powerful."

Secretary-General [.01] summarized the combat power of the MANTIS Warrior with a brief phrase.

"Hey hey! Why are you all so solemn? This is great news, hahaha. Look, this time humanity almost didn't rely on the First Herrscher's power to eliminate the Fifth Herrscher. Isn't this worth celebrating?"

"...Lezlun, don't go too far!"

"Ah—is there something wrong with what I said? Is there something wrong? There shouldn't be a problem, right? Hmm hmm hmm, it really shouldn't be a problem, right? Then why do you guys think there's a problem? Oh dear, could it be… there's a problem with you guys?"

Lezlun stretched out his index finger and tapped his own head.

"Alright, Lezlun, say less."

Seeing the situation once again verging on spiraling out of control, Keer hastily smoothed things over.

Vasak once again took a seat in the sidelines, watching coldly. He remained silent from beginning to end, not because he had nothing to say, but simply because he didn't want to communicate with these people, nothing more.

He had once yearned for these so-called high-level figures countless times.

No, not yearned, to be precise, it should be fear—he felt that these people should be more intelligent than him, capable of playing him in the palm of their hands, so he willingly allowed himself to be driven by them.

Of course, it wasn't that these people weren't smart. Vasak considered himself the second dumbest of these thirteen people, the dumbest naturally being Minister Taro of [.06], but both of them were crude martial men, not worth mentioning.

As for the others… heh heh…

That's right, this was his reason for despising these people—they only had wisdom, but no courage; only calculation, but no dedication.

In the face of the Honkai, selfishness and cowardice were the two greatest sins, and Vasak had personally witnessed these "self-proclaimed" intelligent people commit one stupid thing after another because of these two sins.

He had a vague premonition that the people here would be replaced by "another group of people" sooner or later.

Therefore, he also disdained to speak—don't misunderstand, he just didn't want to be identified for some unnecessary crimes when the reckoning came.

Only now did he realize that he had agreed to Mikael's deal after the Third Honkai Eruption, and had been silently maintaining contact with him.

This time, he had even proactively sent out Himeko, releasing goodwill, and he had never hindered Mei's plan, but instead continuously provided support for Kevin's promotion and Mei's resource allocation…

This series of unintentional actions now seemed like divine strokes, because it gave him the opportunity to take the second "choice."

Lezlun's constant trash-talking here all day long was probably also out of this consideration, right?

"Lezlun, Vasak, Fire Moth is in your hands. Now you have a subordinate whose combat power is comparable to a Herrscher. Don't you have any contingency plans?"

"Contingency plans? Contingency for what? My subordinates have such powerful strength, I'm clearly overjoyed, why would I turn around and deal with him?"

"What are you implying, Lezlun!"

"Ah? Did I say something? Minister Taro, and you, you, you, you, you… please everyone, figure out who approved Mei's surgery application. Was it me?"

"You! Mei's surgery was done by her in violation of regulations, it has nothing to do with us!"

"Sigh…"

A series of sighs rang out. Some people's IQs had even become unbearable for their teammates.

Although their faces couldn't be seen, Vasak still envisioned Lezlun's face filled with mockery.

[Something's not right…]

He became somewhat alert. Lezlun seemed to be going a bit too far. Even if he and he saw the same possibility, his trash-talking was still excessive—almost to the point of breaking with the United Government.

This was too different from the Lezlun of the past. Two years ago, when he was still working for the United Government, despite his deep family background, he was polite and courteous to everyone, his polite smile never missing.

[That's right, he was like that to me and Phamas back then too.]

[His current appearance is very much like someone who is about to lose his temper on the eve of a falling out, yet seems a little guilty, as if he's covering up something.]

Guilty about what? Covering up what? Could it be that Lezlun was different from him, and didn't want to take the second "choice," but had a third "choice"?

He hesitated, wondering if he should find Lezlun for an offline chat after the meeting, but he was also afraid to take the risk…

Just then, Keer, enduring the verbal sparring between Lezlun and Taro, helplessly announced the end of the meeting.

"Snap!"

After a slight electrical sound, the pitch-black room returned to silence once more.

But just a few seconds later, eleven tombstones lit up again.

From [01] to [11], this was actually the true [SEELE], not some "MANTIS Warrior Project Assessment Agency" to mislead people, but the "Cabinet" within the United Government that had existed long ago.

[SEELE], meaning soul, was the brain of the entire human civilization.

"Taro, you're too impulsive. There's no need to engage in verbal sparring with Lezlun."

"Hmph!"

"Don't say that. Although Taro is a bit impulsive, he at least made Lezlun reveal his true colors."

"We've watched this guy Lezlun grow up. Everyone can see what he's thinking—but what exactly is he plotting? Is it his own plot? Is it a plot with Vasak? Is it a plot with Mei? Or is it a plot with the First Herrscher? Or, are all of the above involved in his plot?"

"That situation should be impossible. If Fire Moth and Anti-Entropy had really completed their merger, then this kid Lezlun should be even more arrogant. Given his style, if the First Herrscher and Mei were both willing to support him, we wouldn't be able to sit here and talk anymore."

"That's true. It's precisely because of this that we must prevent this possibility! Just Mei, or either one of the First Herrschers, is already enough of a headache for us. But there's no need to worry about Anti-Entropy and Fire Moth merging—Lezlun knows his own limits. He can't even control Mei, let alone the First Herrscher."

"But it's not entirely impossible."

Keer always threw out the most shocking words at the most appropriate times.

"If Lezlun himself also becomes a MANTIS Warrior and possesses the military force to check and balance Mei and the First Herrscher, wouldn't that work?"

"..."

"In the end, it's still that our control over Fire Moth is too weak. Letting Lezlun and Vasak take over was really a bad move. These two, one is too calculating, and the other's brain was damaged by Phamas's death. If you ask me, we should have talked to Mei back then!"

"Why are you offering hindsight now? Mei back then was still a high school student. If it weren't for Mobius's letter of recommendation, we wouldn't even know this person existed. Besides, this little girl is even more calculating than Lezlun. How could she willingly be controlled by us?"

"...Taro actually said something sensible for once."

"Then what should we do? Sit and wait for death? Mei has already invited people from Anti-Entropy to participate in the victory dance. There's obviously something fishy going on between them… This is very dangerous, everyone should understand what I mean."

"Ahem, cough."

Keer coughed, once again attracting everyone's attention.

"If you want to prevent them from merging, you just need to create contradictions artificially."

"Secretary-General, you make it sound so simple, but how do we do it?"

"Just a frame-up. What's important isn't Mei's thoughts, Lezlun and Vasak's thoughts, or the First Herrscher's thoughts, but the thoughts of 'ordinary people.'

"First, we need to select a character who cuts across the three forces as an entry point."

"Is there really such a person?"

"Yes, but it's not a person. Using [organization] to describe it might be more appropriate.

"From a certain perspective, that [organization] is precisely the dark side of Fire Moth, the most cruel, and also the most… fragile place. Moreover, the people who make them up are also very easy to incite…"