208: He is still alive!

“Cultivation Techniques, weapons, potions—whatever the Federation has, the West can have.”

“Furthermore… the President is willing to reserve three permanent seats for all of you in the High Council!”

Autonomy, resource allocation, and permanent seats in the High Council!

This was an unprecedented promise, almost equivalent to handing over the entire West to them, and granting them the power to participate in the Federation's highest decision-making!

Qin Wuyan was using the entire Federation's future to exchange for their return.

“My words end here.”

“The Federation awaits your reply. Our compatriots struggling under the claws of Demonic Beasts also await your reply.”

The communication was cut, and the holographic projection extinguished.

The conference room fell into a deathly silence.

After a long while, Chen Xuan sighed deeply.

He looked at Xiao Yuwei, who was in the main seat, his voice a little hoarse.

“Yuwei… what do you think?”

Xiao Yuwei did not answer immediately.

She just quietly looked at the elders before her, seeing the inexpressibly complex emotions in their eyes.

The seeds of division had already been sown.

“Elder Chen, do you truly believe that hungry wolf will keep his promise?”

Lin Qianqian’s icy voice broke the silence.

“Qin Wuyan could kill Su Lei for a baseless threat; he can just as easily destroy all promises for centralization of power afterward and send us one by one to Hell!”

“Negotiating with such a person is like asking a tiger for its skin!”

“But the people of the Northern Territory are innocent!”

Zhao Wufeng slammed his hand on the table. He was Zhao Wuji’s younger brother, and his temper was just as fiery.

“Are we just going to stand by and watch them be slaughtered by Demonic Beasts? We are Martial Artists! We are warriors! Our responsibility is to protect civilians, not to engage in some division or political struggle here!”

“Brother Zhao, calm down.”

Ye Qingyun slowly spoke.

“The problem now isn’t whether or not to save people, but… in what capacity we go.”

“If we go in the name of the West, that would be disobedience, solidifying the crime of secession.

Qin Wuyan could turn his guns on us at any time and launch a righteous crusade.”

“If we accept the Federation’s conscription… that would mean we personally admit that Su Lei’s death was a necessary sacrifice.”

“That would mean we acknowledge the legitimacy of Qin Wuyan, that butcher.”

“And that would mean we betrayed Su Lei.”

They could set aside their hatred for the greater good of humanity, but that would also mean Su Lei’s death would become meaningless.

The man who gave everything for the Federation would ultimately only leave a ridiculous name in the cold annals of history, a name of someone mistakenly killed by the President.

This was unfair.

“I disagree!”

Xiao Yuwei stood up directly.

“Qin Wuyan’s goal is not to save people at all. He is merely using the lives of those civilians to force us into submission, to tear us apart!”

“He transfers us to the Northern Territory, first, to disperse our strength, and second, once we and the Demonic Beasts are both severely wounded, he can easily control, or even eliminate, all of us!”

She scanned everyone, her gaze like ice.

“By then, he will not only have a West that poses no threat, but he can also completely centralize power under the guise of a hero who quelled a rebellion.”

“This is a poisonous plot to kill two birds with one stone!”

Inside the conference room, the atmosphere instantly grew even more tense.

The radicals, led by Xiao Yuwei and Lin Qianqian, clashed head-on for the first time with the wavering moderates like Chen Xuan and Ye Qingyun.

“Is there… no other way?”

An old Grandmaster spoke with a bitter expression, “We could send a portion of our people to support the Northern Territory as volunteers, while we ourselves remain in the West to contend with Qin Wuyan…”

“It’s useless.”

Lin Qianqian interrupted him directly, “As soon as our people leave the West, Qin Wuyan’s mechanical army will immediately advance.”

“By then, we’ll be attacked from both sides and fall even faster!”

“Then what do you propose we do??”

Zhao Wufeng’s temper flared up again: “Are we to abandon our responsibility as humans just because of Qin Wuyan??”

“This is not our responsibility!”

Xiao Yuwei’s voice suddenly rose, like a drawn sword!

“The crisis in the Northern Territory was caused by Qin Wuyan’s ambition and suspicion! He is the one responsible for this, not us!”

“Since he could kill Su Lei for power, he can just as easily sacrifice those civilians in the Northern Territory for power! To him, those lives are merely bargaining chips to negotiate with us!”

“What we need to do now is not clean up his mess, but accumulate strength and await our opportunity!”

“Wait for Su Lei to return! And drag that usurper, that thief of the nation, from the President’s position, alive!”

“Wait for Su Lei to return?”

Chen Xuan’s body trembled slightly, and a glint of light burst from his cloudy eyes.

He stared intently at the terrifyingly resolute woman before him, suddenly understanding something.

“He… is still alive?”

This question, like a paralyzing spell, instantly silenced the entire conference room.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Xiao Yuwei’s face.

Xiao Yuwei met everyone’s gaze, met that doubt, shock, and anticipation, and slowly, heavily, nodded.

“Yes.”

“He is still alive.”

This answer made the hearts of Chen Xuan, Ye Qingyun, and others, which had been hanging, drop by half, but then, a deeper worry arose.

Since Su Lei was still alive, there was no room for maneuver in this confrontation.

It would be a war to the death.

Federal Capital, ten thousand meters underground.

Geocentric Bunker.

The deepest, most secret forbidden zone of the Federation.

Originally built to cope with doomsday-level disasters capable of destroying the surface, it had now become Qin Wuyan’s private slaughterhouse.

A hundred-meter-thick composite armor isolated all external detection and all humanity.

The laboratory was brightly lit, as if it were day.

Countless precise instruments, like steel tentacles, connected to a huge container located in the center.

The container was made of transparent special crystal, filled with dark green nutrient solution.

A pure black crystal bead floated quietly in the center of the nutrient solution.

Three white chains and one black chain firmly bound it.

This was the Demonic beast core that Su Lei had sealed at the cost of his life.

Qin Wuyan stood before the container, like an artist admiring his masterpiece.

Beside him was Dean Li, whose face was as pale as a ghost.

“Analysis has hit a Bottleneck.”

Dean Li’s voice was dry and hoarse: “The structure of this thing is too stable.”

“The Seal left by Su Lei is like a perfect absolute Domain; none of our methods can penetrate it and discover the secrets within without damaging the core.”