200: Damn it! My faculty and staff!

In short, after being trapped within the borders of The Consortium, The Corporation's entourage immediately seized the opportunity to send a distress signal to their headquarters.

Then, the person who sent the message was directly arrested and taken to the Slaughterhouse by The Consortium's Inspectorate Department on the grounds of "leaking state secrets."

Now, that group of precious intellectuals had completely fallen into a state of lost contact.

The distress signal first reached The Corporation's headquarters, then was immediately sent through emergency encryption to Tianjin Seat V89.

Upon receiving this distress signal, the soldier in charge of communications...

...was startled and immediately chose to report it.

His superior immediately activated the emergency "Supreme Director Direct" contact method and sent the distress signal directly to Xi Hai.

What was Xi Hai doing at this moment?

He was in a broadcasting studio, addressing the entire Legion—

Indeed, this was the task he had mentioned doing before but had delayed until now:

Completely purging all religious elements from the Guardian Angels, whether it was the "lord of ten thousand changes" from the former Imperial Religion or Julius's previous deification of him at the end of the "struggle of humanity."

In the soundproof broadcasting studio, Xi Hai held the speech he had written earlier, reading it clearly and with great emotion.

It was as if he weren't facing a microphone, but thousands upon thousands of warriors following him.

"Most so-called deities are nothing more than ridiculous images summarized by humans of their own accord."

"In the beginning, humans feared nature and worshipped nature, thus enshrining nature as a god; later, people worshipped power, thus enshrining the source of power as a god..."

"To put it bluntly, believing in a god is, in most cases, just a simple and crude way of giving up on thinking."

"Just as the people of The Empire do not wish to think about why humanity was able to develop such a civilization,"

"they attribute every revolution—bought with the blood of tens of thousands, even hundreds of millions—to an illusory lord of ten thousand changes."

"And now—someone has mythologized me into a god, believing me to be humanity's natural savior."

"I feel no joy, no gratification, and certainly no ridiculous sense of destiny."

"I only feel an immense sadness."

"As for why? It's because my arrival has not brought about any change in you!"

"Because you still haven't realized it! There has never been a savior, and there is no deity that will descend from the heavens to save you!"

"Deifying a person as a savior is either escapism, stupidity, or—an excessive contempt for oneself!"

"This is an act of giving up on thinking! It's as laughable as an ostrich burying its head in the sand!"

"As I have said in my book! Humanity was able to develop such a brilliant civilization because of the unremitting struggle of countless generations!"

"Humanity's survival to this day is a revolution bought with the blood of countless people who sacrificed themselves!"

"If you want to be saved, if humanity wants to be saved,"

"you must first realize that you, they, and all of humanity, when united, are the true saviors!"

"Not me. I am just one of you."

"..."

"*Static...*"

When the last word left his lips, Xi Hai finally breathed a sigh of relief—

Fortunately, nothing went wrong.

Giving a speech in a broadcasting studio produces a completely different effect than speaking face-to-face.

He couldn't use body language or interactive questions to stir the crowd's emotions.

But without a doubt, this talk could only be pre-recorded.

Because there were simply too many people in the Legion, and it was impossible for everyone to gather in one place just to hear a speech.

*Phew—*

He didn't know if what he was doing now was right or wrong.

Xi Hai looked at the speech in his hand.

He was suddenly curious: if his crazy idea actually succeeded,

how would history judge him?

A hero who saved humanity, or an unacknowledged madman?

He felt that, much like his name, he was drawing closer and closer to that "Little Mustache" who gave speeches in beer halls.

The only difference might be that the "Little Mustache" always used lies to mobilize the power of the people and then used more lies to cover up his previous ones,

whereas Xi Hai believed that he truly wanted every word he spoke to become reality.

"Beep, beep, beep—"

Suddenly, the communicator in his pocket rang with a sound different from usual, jolting the still-pensive Xi Hai awake.

Instantly, the messy thoughts in his mind were tossed aside—

That notification sound was the emergency communication he had set up!

When this sound rang out, it meant... something big had happened!

He quickly picked up the communicator and opened it.

His pupils constricted instantly—

Damn The Consortium!

The teaching staff he had worked so hard to find! The foundation of his educational undertaking!

They were freaking caught and turned into cannon fodder!

This is absolutely intolerable!

He had to let these idiots taste his iron fist!

Almost immediately, he pulled out another communicator, dialed Julius, and shouted—

"Julius! Now! Immediately! Right now! Go to the Main Control Room!"

"Something big has happened!"

...