22: Their respective conspiracies

After the meeting, Kleid immediately went to find Xiang Yan to report on the situation regarding the "Contest of the Stars" that the President had announced to everyone.

"Contest of the Stars? Interesting." Xiang Yan stroked his chin and smiled with great interest, "Then let them contest it."

"By the way, have you found where that citizen of the seventh-level civilization is yet?"

"I am sorry, my Lord. Even though our people have infiltrated the President's group of Confidants, there is still no news," Kleid replied apologetically.

"Is that so? Never mind. Just keep monitoring this matter; there is no need to rush. We have plenty of time. Remember, this time is different from the Exile Star incident. What we want is to covertly subvert the civilization and use it as a springboard to make contact with other civilizations."

"I obey your will, my Lord!"

After sending Kleid away, Xiang Yan once again pulled the false gods into the illusion and manifested his divinity before them.

Within the Holy Light Church, the God of Holy Light sat high upon the throne built for him by his Believers, facing the Believers who worshipped him one after another, waving his hand to sprinkle points of radiance. It gave a sense of sacred inviolability.

Suddenly, the vision of the God of Holy Light blurred, and he found himself once again in a pure white space. Warm, gentle light enveloped him once more, and an indescribable vastness and compassion filled his senses.

The God of Holy Light was moved to tears, whispering, "Mother, you have finally summoned me once again."

A gentle voice suddenly appeared, "My dear child, a contest is about to begin. Only by becoming the final victor can you become my spokesperson and rule the mortal world for me. Are you prepared?"

"Ah, Mother, great and merciful Mother, your child will certainly not fail your trust. I will surely offer the victory to you," the God of Holy Light shouted.

"Very good, my child. I will wait for you at the finish line of victory. When that time comes, I will personally place the crown upon you and let the world cheer for your victory."

As soon as the voice fell, the space shattered, and the God of Holy Light found himself back on his throne.

Recalling the conversation with his Mother and the news provided by the President, the God of Holy Light immediately ordered the Believers serving by his side to summon the Pope.

This scene was repeating in various different churches.

Three days later, because Xiang Yan's manifestation directly ignited the situation in the Western Hemisphere, a war between religions was on the verge of breaking out.

The Western Hemisphere, once peaceful, instantly turned into a purgatory of blood and fire.

However, due to the agreement with the President, the false gods did not fight directly, but instead let the churches under their command wage war.

After a year of religious war, the Night Cult was about to be wiped out by the War God Order.

The Pope of the Night Cult, regardless of the agreement with the President and other churches to block the extraordinary, frantically publicized that his church possessed extraordinary power to the Eastern Hemisphere, attempting to expand his personnel and prolong his church's life.

Even the gods began to step in to show their power, but fortunately, due to the strong blockade of information regarding the extraordinary, the people in the civilization did not feel much about it, only thinking it was a show.

This caused the so-called Night Goddess to almost become desperate and prepare to personally enter the fray to beat everyone up, but under the blockade of other false gods, she had to retreat to her church in a sorry state.

Meanwhile, inside the Presidential Palace.

"Damn the Night Cult! How dare they violate the agreement!" He roared in anger, sweeping the documents on the table to the floor.

"Contact the leaders of the other churches immediately. I want to hold an emergency meeting!"

After the High-ranking Officials of the various churches received the news, although they appeared indignant on the surface, they were secretly delighted inside.

The actions of the Night Cult undoubtedly gave them a legitimate opportunity to eliminate dissenters without being targeted by everyone.

"Your Excellency, the President, we absolutely cannot tolerate this behavior!" The Pope of the War God Order was the first to state his position, "The Night Cult is acting so recklessly; they must pay the price!" Other churches also echoed, expressing their willingness to join forces to wipe out the Night Cult and maintain the stability of the entire civilization.

Of course, they were all calculating the same thing in their hearts: eliminating the Night Cult meant one less competitor, fewer people to share the cake at the table, and they would be able to eat a little more.

Furthermore, they all knew that if the Night Cult's actions succeeded, it would inevitably arouse the crazy pursuit of the masses, and the benefits they could share would decrease. Could they tolerate it? Certainly not.

After the meeting, the President secretly convened a meeting with his Confidants. "Is everything ready?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, Your Excellency, the President," the Confidant replied respectfully, "We are just waiting for the gaze of the entire civilization to gather on the Western Hemisphere, and we can begin our action." A glint flashed in the President's eyes, as if he had already seen the scene after the plan's success.

Meanwhile, Kleid also reported this news to Xiang Yan in detail.

After hearing this, Xiang Yan just smiled faintly: "As expected. Continue to follow their actions and do not reveal any flaws." After Kleid left, Xiang Yan locked onto Jonnison's location and transmitted his voice: "The time has come. You are permitted to use a portion of extraordinary power to bewitch those ordinary people and make them join the Night Cult."

Upon hearing this, a glint of excitement flashed in Jonnison's eyes, but he did not act with great fanfare; instead, he became even more low-key.

He continued to dress as a refined scoundrel every day, secretly issuing Xiang Yan's orders to the Believers.

Jonnison and his subordinates began to use extraordinary power quietly during daily conversations, subtly influencing the thoughts of those around them.

They would not directly advocate the doctrines of the Night Cult, but rather, as friends, share some "strange experiences" and "mysterious knowledge."

These seemingly casual actions, under the support of extraordinary power, subtly and rapidly changed the cognition of the people around them, making them interested in the Night Cult and crave extraordinary power.

Under their bewitchment, some ordinary people who craved power began to join the Night Cult.

In order to attract more Believers, the false god of the Night Cult specially bestowed some weak extraordinary power upon some of the newly joined followers and let them go back to promote it.

These ordinary people who gained power, like live advertisements, showed off their newly acquired abilities among the crowd, causing a greater sensation.

The people of the Eastern Hemisphere witnessed the existence of extraordinary power with their own eyes, and with Xiang Yan's deliberate pushing, more and more people eagerly joined the Night Cult.

The news spread rapidly like a virus, and the entire civilization learned of this news. Many busybodies took spaceships from the terraformed planets to the home planet. The success of these busybodies pushed the matter to a climax, and the entire civilization fell into a frenzy.

People were no longer satisfied with an ordinary life; they craved extraordinary power and longed to change their own destiny.

After seeing the actions of the Night Cult, the other churches could no longer sit still.

They realized that if they continued to abide by the agreement, they would lose Believers and lose their advantage in the "Contest of the Stars."

By then, let alone eating the cake, it would be good if they didn't become the cake themselves. As for the fact that doing so would make the cake smaller, please, having something to eat is better than starving.

Therefore, they tore up their agreements with the President one after another and began to reveal extraordinary power to the world to attract Believers.

For a time, the eyes of the entire civilization were focused on the Western Hemisphere, and countless people flocked there, hoping to obtain extraordinary power and join this "Contest of the Stars."

Inside the Presidential Palace, the President looked at the latest report, a faint, imperceptible smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Very good," he whispered, "Everything is going according to plan..." He picked up a communicator on the table, "Begin."

The clamor in the Western Hemisphere and the frenzy of the civilization were all within the President's plan.

After learning about the "Contest of the Stars" from Ketela, he had been thinking: since other ordinary people could be granted power by the will of the stars to become gods.

Then why couldn't he become a god?

For this reason, he even specifically went to find Ketela, and learned from him that those ordinary people could become gods for the following two reasons:

First, the demise of the legendary entity.

Second, the faith of countless Believers in these gods is equivalent to shouting in front of the will of the stars that "everyone here is a handsome guy," attracting its attention.

Then, if he molded himself into a god and attracted the attention of the will of the stars, and added the fact that he was not dead, wouldn't he be able to become a god directly?

Naturally, this "Ascension to Godhood" plan came into being.

With the launch of the plan, teams composed of top media personnel, internet promoters, and socialites were already on standby, and they began to operate like precision gears.

They publicized the misery of the war in the Western Hemisphere and issued Soul-searching questions to all sectors of society, angrily denouncing those so-called religions and gods as nothing good.

This resonated with those people who were suffering because of this war.

Then, the President's image was carefully packaged. No longer a politician in a suit and tie, he appeared before the public as an elderly man who cared about the damage caused by the war, a merciful and compassionate elder.

He was committed to stopping this war, constantly walking on the edge of death, just to stop this meaningless war and bring the hope of peace to everyone.

And he tried to use negotiation means to get the various churches to make extraordinary power public and use it for the people, but it had little effect, yet he still did not give up.

All the above propaganda quickly implanted the President's image into the hearts of the people.

Every day, countless people prayed to him, hoping he would quickly find a way to end this meaningless war and let their loved ones return to their side.

These small moves by the President naturally entered Xiang Yan's field of vision. Nonsense, now if you step out of the door, the neighborhood broadcasts are all reporting on how the President is doing this or that, and what he has sacrificed for peace; it would be hard for him not to know.

For a period of time, Xiang Yan even wondered if the President had taken the wrong medicine. After all, what was he like before? He was always there talking empty politics all day long, and every now and then a scandal would break out. If it weren't for his grandfather and uncle being High-ranking Officials in their party and supporting him, he would have stepped down long ago.

Until one day Jonnison contacted Xiang Yan and reported the reason why the President was doing this; otherwise, Xiang Yan would have thought he was possessed by an evil god. Although he was indeed possessed, he hadn't made a move on him yet, had he?

Xiang Yan silently thought for a few seconds, feeling that if he let the President become a god, it would definitely be fun. As for any bad consequences, Xiang Yan stated that after knowing about that citizen of the seventh-level civilization, he had long made preparations to run away.

Next, it would be to be steady while being a bit reckless. If it succeeds, great; if it doesn't, isn't it just taking his subordinates and running away? It's not like he hasn't done it before.